President Luis Abinader announced on Sunday, 30 January 2022 that he was open to hear discussions by the Social and Economic Council platform on the Punta Catalina Trust contract signed by the government and already approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Yet, the President did not remove the bill from the Senate. The Constitution does not allow senators or deputies to amend contracts signed by the Presidency; only to approve or reject these.
The Social and Economic Council groups Dominican social and economic sectors. Yet, recently, the Abinader administration fast-tracked the Electricity Pact without the participation of the social sector within the Council. The recommendations made by the Social and Economic Council are just recommendations and are not mandatory to the legislators that have the last word on the approval of government contracts.
Penal lawyer Laura Acosta says that the decision of President Luis Abinader to send the Punta Catalina Trust contract for discussions to the Social and Economic Council platform does not necessarily mean the contract will be amended. She explained on La Cuestion radio talk show that to amend the bill the Presidency would have to remove it from the Senate.
Acosta questions why the Abinader administration has chosen the mechanism of the trust for the management of the power plant to make the operation more transparent and efficient. She stresses clauses in the contract do exactly the opposite. The contract authorizes full control to a technical committee, to the extreme, the technical committee decides on the auditors and on their replacements. The technical committee members nor the operation would be subject to government controls of the Procurement Agency, the Chamber of Accounts or the Comptroller Office, as established in the infamous contract.
She stresses that the President has stated that while he is President the power plant will not be privatized. Acosta nevertheless explains that the contract has clauses that allow for the future privatization of the power plant built by the past Medina administration.
Acosta recommends that the government first pass a bill establishing the rules for public trusts and wait to receive the report contracted on the worth of the power plant before going forward with the approval of the contract for a trust to manage the coal-fired power plant. The 752 MW plant was the most important infrastructure work built during the 8-year Medina administration.
Acosta disputes the notion that the government cannot be transparent and efficient in its management. She says the private sector has not shown great efficiency and says private incursion in telecommunications, public pension and health plan management are not success cases.
Meanwhile, spokespersons for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) and Fuerza del Pueblo (FP), two political parties whose legislators voted yes for the contract that passed in the Chamber of Deputies, have gone on record saying that President Luis Abinader cannot give orders to the legislators. They were referring to the postponing of the reviewing of the Punta Catalina contract. Yvan Lorenzo for the PLD and Dionis Sanchez for the FP say that all the President can do is remove the contract or let it run its course in the Senate. They suggest President Abinader remove the contract if there is the intention to amend it during the discussions in the Social and Economic Council.
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Diario Libre – Eduardo García Michel
1 February 2022