The American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic (Amcham) called on the Fern?ndez Government to speed up the privatization process for the Dominican Electricity Corporation (CDE). Speaking at Amcham’s monthly luncheon, Amcham President Alfonso Paniagua, said the organization wants to see the process stepped up while ensuring that it is "transparent" and "effective" so that electricity services can improve and public funds can be refocused on social problems. The luncheon’s guest speaker, Dr. Antonio Isa Conde, President of the entity overseeing the "capitalization" (as the Dominican government calls it) of CDE, the Commission for Public Enterprise Reform (CREP), said that the opening of bidding for the parts of CDE would be held at the end of March or beginning of April. The bidding originally was scheduled for last December, but was postponed so that CDE could "clear up some problems" (such as CDE’s overdue payments to private generators) that might have caused some potential bidders to stay away. Isa Conde assured Amcham that the 19 companies and consortia that have been prequalified for bidding have recently reaffirmed their intention to participate.
