The deputy director of the energy commission of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Antonio Almonte, alerted that the tender for contracting of coal for Punta Catalina coal-fired power plant by the Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) violates the Procurement Law.
Almonte said in a press release that notwithstanding the repeated and documented questioning of the process of contracting and construction of the Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant, the administration of the CDEEE continues to tender contracts related to this project through procedures that violate the procurement and contracting law and the most elementary rules of transparency and credibility.
The tender CDEEE-PR-01-2018 is carried out under the “procedures for exception” that is intended to cover unpredictable situations, emergencies and other exceptional needs.” Almonte says this is not the case of Punta Catalina. The tender could reach more than RD$5 billion a year in around 10 million tons of coal purchases a year. He said that on 15 May 2015, CDEEE executive vice president Ruben Jiménez Bichara had announced the entity would tender in timely matter the sourcing of coal for the power plant.
“This unnecessarily hasty way of calling for a tender of this magnitude could prevent the country from getting the best offer in the market in terms of price, quality and service efficiency,” argues Almonte.
“In summary, with this procedure, the CDEEE justifies and encourages public questioning and suspicion about the important Punta Catalina project that has been surrounded by accusations of corruption and spurious contracts to the detriment of the finances of the Dominican people,” concludes the energy specialist.
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Acento
19 July 2018
