Dominican Republic court halts construction on US$2.4B coal-fired power plant

Santo Domingo.- The Superior Administrative Court (TSA) on Wednesday ordered the suspension of the call for tenders to build two coal-fired power plants, until a challenge of the process is heard.

Presiding judge Delfina Leon ruled a request for an injunction submitted by the Gezhouba Group Company Ltd., against the State-owned Electric Utility’s tender committee, Odebrecht Tecnimont and the Government Purchasing Dept., in addition to a challenged filed by Consorcio Impe.

The judge ruled that the CDEEE’s call for tenders for the power plants’ construction “generated an inconsistency with the value approved by the General State Budget.”

It notes that although article 52 of the call for tenders sets the maximum value at US$1.5 billion for the work, the documentation reveals that it was assigned for US$2.4 billion, an inconsistency which the records provided doesn’t justify.