President Luis Abinader announced Thursday that in the coming days, offering 800 megabytes of natural gas with the deposit will begin a project to produce this type of energy in Manzanillo, Montecristi.
During the signing of the Electricity Pact, Abinader spoke between different sectors, in which Minister of Energy and Mines Antonio Almonte added that a dozen contracts for the sale of renewable energy (solar and wind) will also be started soon.
He said the companies to which these contracts will be awarded have final concessions, some for seven, six and five years. This is the direct step to the contract to sell the energy to the distribution companies.
With regard to the Electric Pact, Abinader believed that this agreement (the Electric Pact) is not perfect, but it is possible.
“ This pact is not perfect, I don’t even agree with some parties that want us to go further, but it is possible and, as Minister Almonte (Antonio Almonte) explained, the points we had objected to are already being applied to have the necessary consistency and comply with what we think it should do and improve the electricity sector, ”said the chairman during the signing of the pact.
He added that the government was not opposed to what had been proposed, but called for its extension to include actions such as the liquidation of the CDEEE, in the event of the dissolution of councils, audits of the Edes and the Punta Catalina project.
The head of state also assured that the power sector shortage is responsible for half of the country’s non-financial government debt, highlighting the Dominican Republic’s lack of competitiveness and confidence in energy.
While Rafael Toribio, Chairman of the Economic and Social Council, indicated that the signing of this agreement does not mean that the pending issues will not be dealt with later; rather, there is a political decision to continue the dialogue with the sectors concerned.
According to Antonio Almonte, the energy supply could be cheaper if “we clean the electrical system from disturbances”, for which the law must be applied and some regulations changed, which are achieved in the electricity pact.
“We could provide a more stable electricity supply to Dominican society, with a lot of energy and at a lower cost,” said Almonte.
The pact covers topics such as cost reduction and service improvement, environmental aspects, tariffs, among others, that will contribute to the development of a more competitive and transparent service, at a lower cost and with greater energy production for all sectors.