“The trust, a figure that the President has adopted for the financing of projects to obtain capital, is good; the Punta Catalina trust, in particular, has technical errors that can be corrected,” said Ángel Lockward, prior to his presentation in the seminar-debate “Relevance and Viability of the Punta Catalina Trust”, which took place this Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel in the National District.
The approach of the doctor in constitutional law and that of four other experts who succeeded him was two days after the intervention of President Luis Abinader, to submit to discussion the trust agreement of the thermoelectric plant in the Economic and Social Council (CES) in order to that there are no legal challenges.
Lockward explained, in his speech, that the idea of the trust was good, but the document had constitutional defects and the members of the Technical Committee “too much rejection” in the population, that is why the president decided to send it to the CES before being known by the Senate. .
He also recalled that the answer to the concerns raised by the Punta Catalina public trust agreement are all in the law that regulates the State’s business assets, public trusts and creates the National Center for Public Companies and Trusts (CENEFIP) that the President sent to the National Congress and was approved by the Senate and in a reading by the Chamber of Deputies.
Marcos Francisco Massó Garrote, second to present, questioned the fact that an administration of a heritage asset escapes the law of contracts.
“But how is it going to be that a management of a patrimonial asset, through a figure that is not yet an entity or a legal zone, escapes the law of contracts; escape from the exercise of the control of the contentious-administrative jurisdiction: it is inadmissible”, replied the university professor.
On his side, Manuel Fermín Cabral considers that the most important thing for the country is to have legislation that is the product of a technical and social consensus.
“Ideally, assets like these are in the hands of people without links to political parties, for example, in hands that they can manage efficiently,” said the Public Law expert and Administrative Law professor.
Jotin Cury and Bernardo Castellano
The seminar-debate “Pertinence and Viability of the Punta Catalina Trust” also included the presentation of the jurist Jottin Cury David, son of the former rector of the UASD and former chancellor of the constitutionalist government of Francisco Alberto Caamaño Deñó.
Cury David questioned the fact that, in the case of a profitable asset such as the thermoelectric plant, why transfer it “to the private sector, these are simply things that are not understood: the State has well managed the Reserve Bank, the Dominican Petroleum Refinery and other companies. In this case, why not do the same with Punta Catalina?
He suggested that the appropriate legal framework should be created, and not as intended, as he denounced, with a private trust law applying it to a public good. “No. We need a law, and we also have to debate whether trusts, I reiterate, are compatible with our system, because that is a figure that is basically used in Anglo-Saxon law”, highlighted the specialist in Democratic Society and Rule of Law.
For his part, civil engineer Bernardo Castellano said that the excuse of the Government and officials to justify the Punta Catalina trust is that it seeks efficiency, transparency, asset preservation and depoliticization, an issue that he questioned.
“If that is the premise that they are trying to use to justify this transfer, then I can say… the state electricity sector is neither efficient, nor is it transparent, nor does it guarantee the preservation of Punta Catalina’s assets and it is politicized,” he said. Specialist in Hydroelectric Projects.
The general manager of Fiduciaria Reservas, Andrés Vander Horst Álvarez, who would be one of the exponents of the seminar-debate, excused himself.
It is recalled that after intense debates and criticism of the trust project for the administration of the Punta Catalina thermoelectric plant, President Luis Abinader announced last Sunday night that he will ask the Senate to postpone the knowledge of the project that had been approved in the Chamber of Deputies. .
