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LATIN AMERICA |
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Ecuador’s
President Says Big Hydro Project on Track
QUITO – President Rafael Correa said
progress was being made in the preliminary
construction phase of the Coca-Codo-Sinclaire
hydroelectric power plant, the largest
facility of its type in Ecuador, following
the signing of a contract last week with
China’s Sinohydro.
The construction of access roads is in the
advanced stage because work started before
the contract with the Chinese company was
signed last Monday, the president said
during his weekly program on Saturday.
The power plant will have the capacity to
generate 1,500 MW of electricity, allowing
it to meet about 70 percent of domestic
power demand in the Andean nation.
Ecuador will no longer need to import
electricity from Colombia and Peru once
Coca-Codo-Sinclaire is completed, and it
will gain the capacity to export power to
other countries in the region, Correa said.
The hydroelectric power project is “the
biggest investment in the history of the
country and is being made despite the
economic crisis at the global level,” Correa
said, adding that construction would cost
some $2 billion.
“Much care is being taken in the
environmental area” because the plant is
being constructed in the east-central Amazon
region, the president said.
Ecuador is providing about 15 percent of the
funding for the power plant, with China’s
Eximbank financing the other approximately
85 percent of the project.
The Coca-Codo-Sinclaire hydroelectric power
plant is located in El Chaco, in the
Amazonian province of Napo.
The plant is expected to create some 4,000
direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. |
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