In his State of the Nation speech yesterday, Wednesday 27 February President Danilo Medina declared his determination to solve the electricity problem. He is aiming to have solved the electricity problems affecting the country once and for all by the time his period in office was over, a promise that has been made by all Dominican Presidents.
He spoke of the construction of new generation plants and mentioned the need for more Dominicans to pay for the service.
Fernandez said that the solutions would include be two new 300-megawatt coal-fired generators, 50 mini-electricity centers, and 19 mini-hydroelectric facilities to increase power generation, plus US$224 million to improve transmission.
He said that to begin with, he would make a major effort to increase capacity and at the same time to modify the fuel generation matrix. On the other hand they will produce more energy and explore alternative energy sources to reduce the country’s dependence on oil. Medina acknowledged that the electricity situation had been a problem for several decades and it would not be easy to solve. However, he stated that the government had decided to act and to put a definitive plan into place.
He said the government would continue providing poor families with the electricity subsidy, while commenting that there are many users who can pay for the service who are not doing so now. He said the resulting losses came to hundreds of millions of dollars. The President stated that there is no longer the excuse that the service is bad and called for a change in the people’s culture for a positive attitude at paying for the service.
He said that the political will was there and he was hopeful that he would receive support from across the social spectrum to solve this problem that was holding the country back from making progress.
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