Spanish
Santo Domingo.– The former executive vice president of the Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Companies, Rubén Jiménez Bichara, stated this Monday that the apologies offered by President Luis Abinader regarding the constant blackouts recorded in recent weeks, do not solve the problem.
When questioned during a press conference called by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) to denounce what they call the government's inefficiency in the electricity sector, Bichara said: "a response is required".
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In that sense, Bichara maintained that although the time it takes for the response is unknown, it is necessary to have measurable planning in electrical matters. It is recalled that President Luis Abinader visited the facilities of the Punta Catalina Thermoelectric Power Plant in Baní last Saturday, from where he apologized to the population for the power outages in different areas of the country. According to the president, the series of blackouts originated after a "damn" issue in the boiler of unit two of Punta Catalina, which forced the removal of 360 megawatts from service since last Tuesday, August 12th. Regarding this, the PLD also denounced today that the losses in the Electricity Distribution Companies (EDEs) went from 27% in 2020 to more than 42% in 2024, which represents a deficit of nearly 1.8 billion dollars. The organization recalled that, thanks to the vision of its governments, the Punta Catalina Thermoelectric Power Plant today supports the national electricity system and warned that without this plant "the country would be in total collapse."
