Administrator of the governmental power companies, Radhames Segura acknowledged that the Cogentrix contract signed during his first term at the head of the CDE (today CDEEE) “possibly should not have been signed,” as reported in El Caribe. He nevertheless said that the PRD congressmen share the blame for having confirmed the contract in Congress. In his opinion, there is shared responsibility and all parties should work together so the contract is renegotiated. Moreover, he said that his predecessor, Cesar Sanchez lobbied so that the terms of the contract were even improved in perjury to the state. He said that the Cogentrix contract is the only one of the contracts the first Fernandez government signed with power providers that is still in effect. The contract accrues US$7 million a month, regardless of whether it is in operation or not, as its promoters were benefited with the same installed capacity clause that was so much criticized in the Smith Enron contract signed in an earlier Balaguer administration. The Cogentrix contract could go to international arbitration. That operation benefited from an Interamerican Development Bank guarantee that if executed, could affect the country’s deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Segura said that the government has months trying to get the beneficiaries of the Mejia government’s Madrid Accord to renegotiate the latter. That contract expires in 2016.