Saturday: for sale; Sunday: no it isn't

[NewsWhore]

In what must look like a comedy of errors to outside observers, Saturday's newspapers printed reports saying that the government was going to re-sell the electricity distribution entities (Edes) it had purchased during the Mejia administration. The next day, Sunday, the newspapers said that the sale of the Edes was not on the government's agenda. Another paper, Diario Libre, reported that the government was proposing the sale of 40% of its holdings in the hydroelectric sector to private sector investors. According to Diario Libre, the legislative package called the "Organic Law for the Dominican Corporation of State-owned Electric Enterprises" (CDEEE) includes a clause that says that the state will sell 40% of the transmission and hydro-generated electricity business to private sector interests. Nonetheless, the dams, the waters and the machinery will remain state-owned and will be "inalienable and not subject to embargos of any kind." The bill would also take the shares owned by the Edes and currently held by the Reformed Enterprises (FONPER) Assets Fund and transfer them to the CDEEE. The legislation is part of a package that contemplates two other initiatives: the modification of the General Law on electricity and the General Law on Fuels. Despite this information, Hoy newspaper says that none of the sales mentioned are on the government's agenda at the present time. In fact, Radhames Segura, the vice-president of the CDEEE told Hoy that these items were not even discussed during Saturday's meeting between the President, Leonel Fernandez and representatives of the electric sector last Saturday at the Global Foundation for Development and Democracy (Fundglode).

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