SANTO DOMINGO.- After 75 days on the job, State-owned power company CDEEE’s 32ND administrator affirmed Wednesday that the entity has shown significant improvements in many areas including savings of 40% or RD$44.6 million monthly in ballooned payrolls, more payments to generators, strict adherence to guidelines and a 23.5% boost in revenue.

Celso Marranzini, speaking in the American Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon, also vowed an end to politicking in the entity, as the rolling blackouts feed the population’s skepticism.

He also noted the creation of a trust to deposit the monies from government subsidies, as well as making public payments to the generators through their Web site.

The official said he took over the CDEEE’s reins “ready to capsize” and with other problems. “It was an orphan enterprise ready to capsize at any minute, with a lack of mission or purpose, highly politicized and burdened with debts.”

He said the cost to the nation of subsidies and the electrical sector’s inefficiency is estimated at US$3 billion yearly, which equals “all the remittances sent to the DR by the Dominican diaspora.”

“The CDEEE is in the process of evaluating a project for a new coal-fired plants of 300 megawatts and initiating wind power projects of 130 megawatts, as well as revamping all the obsolete power grids throughout the country, financed by the OPEP, the World Bank and the IDB,” Marranzini said

He regretted what he calls the “electrical martyrdom, with no end in sight” the country has withstood for more than four decades and quoted several times the late U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt, who was afflicted with polio as himself.

He said all Dominicans should assume the electrical crisis responsibly, without looking for scapegoats for its failure, and requested the population’s support and the collective awareness to solve it. “I propose nationwide quest and pledge to end the politicking with the CDEEE.”