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LATIN AMERICA |
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Colombia to Build Ethanol Plant Near
Venezuela
BOGOTA – The government supports the
construction of an ethanol plant in El
Zulia, a city in northeast Colombia near the
border with Venezuela, to help families
affected by Venezuelan restrictions on sugar
cane sales, President Alvaro Uribe said.
The president, who made the announcement on
Saturday during a council meeting in the
central city of San Juan de Rioseco, said
the plant would “produce 15,000 liters daily
of alcohol” and benefit sugar cane growers.
“Venezuela’s authorities have not allowed
that (sugar) cane to continue arriving at
the Urueña mill. This week the construction
of the alcohol plant should be decided,”
Uribe said.
Some 120 Colombian growers have been
affected by Venezuela’s decision to prevent
sugar cane from being sent to the Urueña
mill.
Ethanol from the plant not sold in the
border city of Cucuta will be sent to other
cities, such as Bucaramanga and
Barrancabermeja, Uribe said.
“There is one problem, it’s that the
gasoline arrives there from Venezuela, so no
one is going to blend alcohol into it ... if
that alcohol has to be taken in tanker cars
to Bucaramanga or Barrancabermeja, it’ll be
taken there,” Uribe said.
Colombia is the second-largest ethanol
producer in Latin America, trailing only
Brazil. |
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