Nicaragua Defends Iran's
Energy Deal
Managua - Nicragua's
President Daniel Ortega
Friday defended Iran's
intention to build a
us$230 million dollar
hydroelectric power in
his country against
charges it was an
illegal arrangement.
Ortega denounced
opponents of the deal as
"ignorant."
Former presidential
candidate and dissident
Sandinista leader
Edmundo Jarquin has
charged that the Baboque
station on the Tuma
River would end up as
the property of the
Iranian state company
that was building it.
"The proper procedures
for approving finance
and involvement by all
the corresponding
ministries preceded
signing of the
agreement," Ortega said.
"Those who speak
otherwise are ignorant."
Ortega said the
governments of Iran and
Nicaragua have been
looking for sources of
renewable energy to help
alleviate the power
needs of the country,
which is now dependent
in the interim on
Venezuela for extra
power.
"I knew that Iran was
interested in
constructing a
hydroelectric plant, and
it's a blessing that the
financing has been
provided, because we do
not want to lose our
light," he said.
Minister of Energy and
Mines Emilio Rappaccioli
noted that the credit
will be paid back in ten
years at 5 per cent
interest. Jarquin
believes the terms are
too steep for Nicaragua.
Liberal deputy Francisco
Aguirre, president of
the economic commission
of the Parliament,
criticized the "lack of
information and
transparency" in the
deal, which he said came
about at the personal
level between
governments, just as
Ortega has done in deals
with Venezuela.
The Boboque project,
with a 70 Megawatt
capacity, is to be
constructed on the Tuma
River, in the northern
province of Jinotega.
Nicaragua and Iran had
diplomatic relations
during the first
Sandinista government in
the 1980s. The
relationship resumed
when Ortega returned to
power in early 2007. |
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