June, 15 - 7:27 AMConditions the elimination of subsidies
Fernandez predicts solving the Dominican energy problem by 2008
ASKS FOR MORE ORDER IN THE POWER PLANTS
SANTO DOMINGO. - President Leonel Fernandez said yesterday that the electrical energy subsidy will not disappear totally, but will rather be reduced in the measure in which the problem of blackouts in the Dominican Republic is solved and when the sector becomes more efficient, which expects will take place before 2008.
"When the electrical issued is resolved, obviously the subsidies disappear," he said.
However, the Head of State clarified that to solve the electrical problem implies that the US$500 million Government subsidies would be remarkably reduced and perhaps remains at only US$80 million, to allocate the rest of the funds to social policies.
He promised that it will use his governing PLD party’s majority in the Dominican Congress not only to seek a constitutional reform with consensus, but to also introduce changes in the General Electricity Law.
The head of State spoke on the need to legislate so that the "electrical theft" is penalized more severely, lamenting that in the country the robbery of energy is seen as a joke.
"Because in the Dominican Republic the electrical robbery is not considered a crime, it’s a joke, and for that reason the joke is on those who commit the infraction when for the former they go to jail,” he said, adding that prison should be the outcome because they are committing an infraction which in fact violates a Dominican Law.
Fernandez, speaking Wednesday night after concluding the First International Encounter on the Electrical Sector, in the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, called on the electrical sector’s agents to be more conscious and orderly with the blackouts.
He said that there is no longer a generating deficit in the country and the that the Government is paying the subsidies, complying with its responsibility, and that contrary to the financial blackouts of the past, the ones now are the result of the ack of order in the power plants and stations, and for that reason requested a better programming, to that the population’s perception isn’t that the Government is irresponsible.
Dominican Today - Portal Alta Tecnologia
