Weekly Report - 26 July 2005

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Row over coal-fired power plants. Government plans to buy two secondhand 600MW coal-fired power plants have triggered a wave of criticism, particularly because the deal is envisaged as eschewing normal tendering procedures on the grounds that this is demanded by the country's energy crisis. The chronic shortage of electricity has been compounded by the rise in world prices for oil, which the Dominican Republic must import. Over the past six years the oil bill's share of GDP has doubled. Doubts have been raised about the background of the supplier, the Malaysia-based Westmont Group, and the fact that the deal demands a US$140m loan up front to be repaid from revenues from the electricity generated.

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