The government has announced the Electricity Pact ordered by National Development Strategy Law 1-12 would be signed on Thursday, 25 February 2021 at the Presidential Palace. Media reports say the signing has not met with consensus in the Economic and Social Council (CES) where the debates would be taking place. Reports are that the plenary has not been meeting and the decision to sign has been prematurely reached between the government and business sectors.
The pact discussions have been taking place since 2014. The pact would have been signed on 20 February 2019 when members of the today ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), including today Santo Domingo province senator Antonio Tavares, presented strong opposition and the signing was postponed. At the time, Tavares was the president of the Association of Herrera and Santo Domingo Province Industries.
Hamilk Chahin, representative of the Centro Juan XXIII group in the CES, says the signing is premature because new CES members are scheduled to be appointed the next day. He said there are too many important topics that have not been debated, including Punta Catalina, the largest power plant in the country.
Chahín said efforts are ongoing to convince the authorities that this is not the moment to sign. He said that the surreptitious signing of the pact two days before the 27 February state of the nation speech and one day before the swearing-in of the CES’s plenary does not make sense.
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El Caribe
El Caribe
25 February 2021