Dominican Gov. needs US$860M for coal-fired power plants in 2015

Santo Domingo.- To keep construction of the coal-fired power plants project at Punta Catalina, Bani (south) within schedule, the Dominican government needs to spend US$860 million (RD$38.8 billion) this year.

The figures are from an Economy and Development Foundation report, which reviews the approval of funding from Brazil’s State-owned BNDES bank in December and the start of other disbursements for the plants being built by Dominican Republic’s State-owned Electric Utility (CDEEE) in Peravia province, whose output will be around 720 MW.

For 2015, "the beginning disbursements are expected from BNDES and European banks secured by SACE (Italian Credit Agency)," and for this year, "increased demand for project resources, estimated at US$860 million in funding needs to keep pace with scheduled execution,"

Nonetheless the report notes that in the 2015 Budget "there were no funds assigned to Punta Catalina, even though the Treasury is the government agency that signed the loan with BNDES and European banks with SACE guarantee."

The Economy and Development Foundation’s "Macroeconomic Assessment 2014" by economist Andy Dauhajre, says BNDES financing "was adopted on December 18, 2014 by the Board of the bank, and estimates that "the financing agreement will be submitted to Congress in the coming weeks."

The report says the resources "from private investors, the Consortium (and / or the government) pay the US$300 million bridge loan from the State-owned Reservas bank and private banks" in the past year. In total, Banreservas last year pitched in US$600 million for the project, being built by Odebrecht-Tecnimont-Consorcio Estrella.

Source: acento.com.do