During his participation in the AES infrastructure inaugurations in Punta Caucedo, Boca Chica on Tuesday, 17 December 2019, President Danilo Medina took a moment to defend the construction of the largest single public investment of his administration, the coal-fired Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant. He announced to the press and those present at the event that Punta Catalina would be inaugurated in February 2020. The inauguration date of the power plant has been postponed on several occasions.
During the event held at the AES Dominicana installations in Punta Caucedo, President Medina told those present at the AES event that the decision to invest in the coal-fired power plant was because the country could not continue to subsidy the electricity sector. He said that the decision to invest in the coal-fired power plant was because there was uncertainty of the stability of natural gas at the time of the decision.
Nevertheless, engineer Eulogio Santaella has explained that the CDEEE in 2011 and 2012 had advanced a tender for the installation of power plants for more than 1,000 MW in natural gas-fired or coal-fired power plants to be built and financed by the private sector. Seven companies were already pre-qualified to participate in the tender. He explains that after President Danilo Medina traveled to Brazil before his inaugural in August 2012, the government cancelled the tender to back the installation of the coal-fired thermoelectric central to be built and financed by Odebrecht.
The controversial Punta Catalina power plant is said to have cost more than US$3 billion, and the Dominican government faces litigation abroad for more than US$700 million. Medina acknowledges the power plant has cost more than was expected. The coal fired-Punta Catalina thermoelectric is set to inject an additional 750 MW into the system.
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18 December 2019