Loan contributes to remedying electric power deficit in Venezuela

To provide partial finance for the Caruachi hydroelectric generation project, the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) today signed an agreement with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to grant a US$100 million loan payable over 12 years with two years' grace.

The loan document was signed by the CAF executive president, Enrique García, the Venezuelan finance minister, Tobías Nóbrega, and the president of C.V.G. Electrificación del Caroní (Edelca), Oswaldo Artiles, in a ceremony in the headquarters of the multilateral financial institution in Caracas.

García said the loan is the multinational lender’s contribution to efforts to meet the growing demand for electric power in the country and to improve the efficiency and reliability of the national power system.

The CAF resources will be used fundamentally to complete the civil works of the project, which will provide an average annual power supply of 13,300 GWh.

The Caruachi project is being developed on the lower Caroní River, which is the part of the river nearest to the Orinoco estuary in northeastern Venezuela. The completed project will have an operating capacity of 2,160 MW. The first unit is expected to come on line in April 2003 and the remaining 11 units will be phased in every three months until 2006, the date originally planned for completion of the project.