There Will Be No Rationing, ICE's President Says
The president of the Instituto Costarricense de Elcetricidad (ICE), Pablo Cob, yesterday denied "emphatically" that the country is facing a shortage of electrical energy.

"ICE has always been able to plan and develop projects that guarantee the supply of electrical energy", said Cob. Cob added that in the last three years, ICE has invested some us$15 million dollars a year to that end.

The reaction by the executive came after it was learned that ICE employees had purchased advertising saying that the country could face rationing come the summer of 2007.

Samuel Yankelewitz, head of the Unión Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones de la Empresa Privada (UCCAEP) says that rationing could be the future as a consequence of the governments limitations on investing tax revenues and the negativism by the Ministerio de Ambiente.

Cob make a call for the UCCAEP to deny or confirm the information the advertisements are based on. Cob assures that the, ICE, the sole supplier of electrical energy and the country is not facing an electrical shortage.

Cob added that the advertisement is was placed by a group of employees who were unhappy that the Secretaría Técnica Ambiental did not approve the study over the environmental impact of the Pacuare hydroelectric project.