Venezuelan governors protest govt. energy policies

CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Venezuelan regional governors are criticizing some of some of the central government's foreign energy investments.

La Verdad reported that that Zulia Gov. Pablo Perez has criticized the decision of the government of President Hugo Chavez Frias to invest $80 million in a thermo-electric power plant in Bolivia while Venezuelans continue to be affected by persistent power outages, stressing that in his province hospitals and small medical centers are the most affected by the power outages.

Perez urged Energia Electrica de Venezuela (Electric Energy Co. of Venezuela, ENELVEN) be held accountable for the losses caused by unscheduled outages and urged communities to organize to demand their rights.

For its part, the national government announced that it had allocated $116 million for electrification and street lighting in Zulia under its 2009-2012 Plan de Aceleracion de Desarrollo Regional (Plan for the Acceleration of Regional Development, PADRE), administered by the Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Energia y Petroleo (People's Power Ministry for Energy and Petroleum, MENPET), as part of $60 million in grants for Zulia.

In a press release ENELVEN said the money will be used for eight electricity projects, mainly for electrification in the municipalities of the Eastern, Western and Southern Lake Maracaibo Shore areas.