The Public Enterprises Reform Commission (CREP) has announced that it will proceed as planned with the sale of the national airline company this coming May 30. Sealed bids for the bankrupt and inoperative Corporacion Dominicana de Aviacion (CDA) will be opened next Tuesday, despite the request of president-elect Hipolito Mejia to delay the sale until after he is sworn into office on August 16. Justifying the decision, Eduardo Selman, director of CORDE, the state-run conglomerate that serves as a holding company for publicly owned companies, said that a delay might jeopardize the good will of investors and lead to a reversal of the US$62 million debt reduction that has been negotiated on behalf of CDA with its creditors. The accumulated debt of the airline – for unpaid fuel and maintenance bills, extra-national operating fees, and fines – was calculated at US$75 million. The new financial plan, providing for a continued 50% state ownership, assigns the remaining US$13 million debt between CORDE, the government and the airline’s as yet un-selected operating partner. Antonio Isa Conde, the head of CREP, invited Mejia to name a panel of experts from his own party, to monitor the transactions. However, he also defended the decision to proceed with the sale which, he said, was clearly grounded in law. The assets of the CDA, essentially its routes and its headquarters building in Santo Domingo, have been valued at US$14.8 million. (26 May 2000)
