The Corporaci?n Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE) and the Smith & Enron Cogeneration Limited Partnership (SECLP) signed a memorandum of understanding setting new rules for the suspension of the power service and authorizing that an inspector oversee the fulfillment of the contract stipulations. The memorandum is expected to solve the legal dispute the two companies have maintained regarding the contract signed in 1993, during the Balaguer administration, and whose onerous conditions led the CDE under new administration to seek arbitration of the C?mara Internacional de Comercio. The agreement, signed 15 December 1998 by the administrator of the CDE, engineer Radham?s Segura and representative of the SECLP, Kurt S. Huneke, calls for the presentation of a revised contract no later than 15 January 1999. The new agreement would be presented to the Congress for approval. Prior to the new contract going into effect all disputes, including the US$25 million claim by SECLP must be settled; the lenders and boards of directors of both parties must approve the agreement, and all disputes pending in the court of arbitrage of the C?mara Internacional de Comercio in Mexico, must be resolved.
