Commission says Gov. should continue Punta Catalina power plant

Santo Domingo.-  The Commission which investigates the Punta Catalina power plant tender on Friday concluded that the government should continue the work to avert major losses to the State and to benefit the country’s power grid.

Taking into account the cost that could mean in terms of guarantees, the Commission recommended sums and duration of the work to decide whether, Odebrecht, should continue as the lead contractor, “based on a series of requirements that are necessary to make such a measure feasible.

“The nine commissioners thus established, after 2,500 hours of work and 1,646 questions in 28 interviews, during six months and 13 days,” said Commission spokesman Jaime Aristy, reading the report at PUCMM University Santo Domingo campus.

He said the firm FTI Consulting was hired at a cost of US$190,000, which, after comparing the cost with other plants, determined that the work´s US$1.9 billion price tag is reasonable. Based on that study, the international consultant determined that Punta Catalina´s cost is around 6% lower than that of other similar plants in Latin America.