The presidents of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP) and the Mining and Petroleum Chamber yesterday called upon the CREP to drop its idea of putting harsh penalty clauses into CDE’s contracts with the new regional electricity distribution firms. CONEP’s Celso Marranizi and the Chamber’s Luis Rafael Pellerano noted that CREP is considering inserting contract clauses with the three distribution firms that will emerge from CDE’s capitalization that would allow the government to seize and liquidate the private shares of those companies should they fail to deliver electricity as promised. Marranizi opined that such talk could only harm the process of capitalization and scare off foreign investors. He noted that such delivery guarantees could never have been met by the current government-owned CDE. Pellerano said that while such a clause might be acceptable in a developed market where the electricity system is functioning efficiently, it is unrealistic to impose such demands in the "fragile" Dominican system, especially on the very parties being asked to make major investments to improve electricity distribution in the DR.
