President Hipolito Mejia denied the suggestions by the Superintendence of Electricity that the power-supply situation was at its lowest point, claiming that the problems in the Cibao region, which includes the country’s second largest city, Santiago, had been resolved. “The problems in the Cibao are over, Puerto Plata (the generating station) has been repaired,” he told reporters yesterday.
Writing for the Listin Diario newspaper, Raul Perez Pena says that the intended sale of 75% of power-company shares brings an end to any doubt that this government’s policies on power issues are similar to those of the Leonel Fernandez administration (1996 – 2000). Perez Pena says both the previous and current governments are “cut from the same cloth” and that the choice ahead is between “bad and worse”. The writer can be contacted at columnapancarta@yahoo.com