The Senate yesterday approved a government contract to build and operate a 300 megawatt (MW) electricity generating plant for San Pedro de Macor?s (SPM). The contract was signed by the Dominican Electricity Corporation (CDE) last September. It was approved without problem largely because the Dominican Government does not have to fund it, and the only guarantee on the international loans used to build the power plant will be the income it generates from electricity sales. CDE will buy the electricity, but only has to pay for power actually delivered. Under the contract, it will buy at 4.9 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour, rather than the 7.7 it is now paying other companies.
