Official doesn’t think he’ll be questioned on bribe-mired power plant

Santo Domingo.- State-owned Electric Utility (CDEEE)CEO Rubén Jiménez Bichara on Wednesday said he doesn’t think he’ll be calledfor questioning in the investigation into the contract to build the PuntaCatalina (south) coal-fired power plant, in which Odebrecht figures as the group’sleading company .

He said given the project’s importance forthe country, he’ll provide everything he can to the Presidential Investigative Commissionto demonstrate transparency.

"Thank God all the information is there andunfortunately the issue has become very politicized. I think that we must makea major effort to take politics out of Catalina and focus on a project that hasn’tbeen a choice, and instead forced upon the country which didnt and doesn’thave any option other than a plant like Punta Catalina. If there was anotheroption to choose one or another, but there was no choice," the official said.

Quoted by elcaribe.com.do, Jimenez saidCatalna was the only plant which the country build for coal to respond to itsresponsibility and reiterated his defense of the project’s call for tenders.