In an interview with El Siglo newspaper, Marcos Cochón, superintendent of electricity, said that private companies’ efforts are paying off and by now blackouts have been reduced to a maximum of two hours a day. He mentioned that 100 of the country’s 224 power circuits are given preference, meaning they should only be shut off in extreme circumstances. Major hospitals, airports, Presidential Palace and other similar institutions are located along the circuits. El Siglo newspaper also reports that the transmission of power will soon be handled by a new government-owned company that will be in turn operated by a private company. Antonio Isa Conde, president of the Commission for the Reform of Public Enterprise (CREP) said that the new company should be in operation at the start of year 2000. There had been news reports expressing concern that the transmission lines which are state-owned would not keep up with improvements being made by private companies that are now in charge of generating electricity and those in charge of distributing electricity.
