2003 – Page 290

The law authorizing the placement of US$600 million in sovereign bonds and the bill to amend the Electoral Law have become official with their publication in the press today. Law 01-03 establishes that the bonds will expire in a minimum of 10 years. The law also ordains that an account be opened in the Banco …

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Virgilio Bello Rosa resigned yesterday as Solicitor General of the Dominican Republic, after receiving a ?scolding? from President Hipolito Mejia, who criticized the efficiency of anti-corruption prosecutions under Bello?s supervision. Bello Rosa told a large group of reporters that he did not like receiving rebukes from Mejia but that he would not respond to the …

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President Mejia asked that the exchange banks and the remittance companies ?remain calm? during a meeting held in the presence of the government?s economic team. After the meeting, one source said that the President would only hear suggestions from the exchange bankers. No new plans were drawn up nor were discussions held on the often-mentioned …

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Amaury Justo Duarte, the head of the Dominican Refinery, told Hoy newspaper reporters that the refinery has a 14-day supply of fuel in reserve and that the public must be prepared to pay higher prices considering the world market price has risen over the past weeks. Justo Duarte said that there was no scarcity of …

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The director of the Corporaci?n de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Santo Domingo (CAASD), the capital city?s water and sewage department, says that between 500 and 600,000 cubic meters of water are wasted every day, costing the CAASD RD$2 million a day or RD$750 million a year. Speaking for the CAASD, Julio Suero Marranzini said that …

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Sanitary engineer Julio Santos-Cayado alerts that the governmental Corporacion del Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Santo Domingo (CAASD) may be billing consumers for air in addition to water. The CAASD has installed 35,000 water meters to date and has announced plans to install 105,000 more to discourage the wasteful consumption of water. Santos-Cayado says that while …

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Superintendent of Power Julio Cross alerts of the problems Edesur and Edenorte power distributors are creating with their delayed payments to the power generators. As reported in Hoy newspaper, Cross said the arrears are bringing instability to the electrical distribution system.  Furthermore, he warned that the management of Edesur and Edenorte, the two Union Fenosa …

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The San Pedro de Macoris-based generation company Cogentrix will have to demonstrate that it is willing to renegotiate its contract for power generation before the Dominican government will pay the US$50 million debt owed. According to a source inside the presidential commission in charge of negotiating electricity contracts, President Mejia is adamant about renegotiating the …

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In a front-page article in El Caribe newspaper, US congressmen Charlie Rangel and Sander Levin have requested that President George W. Bush include the Dominican Republic, and any other Caribbean countries that wish to participate, in the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The congressmen argue that the Dominican Republic is a leading recipient of US …

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?The National Police killed 40 percent less under (General) Marte? reads the Diario Libre headline in connection to a report on the drop in police-related deaths over the past year. During the first 365 days of General Jaime Marte Martinez?s tenure as head of the National Police, the police have been responsible for 70 fewer …

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