US$49 million loan signed for Ecuador

A loan for US$49.1 million was signed today with the Republic of Ecuador to finance the final stage of the Daule-Peripa hydroelectric project, of strategic importance for power generation in the country. The executing agency is the Guayas River Development Studies Commission (CEDEGE).

The agreement was signed in CAF headquarters in Caracas by Ecuadorian ambassador in Venezuela, Alfonso Barrera Valverde, and CAF President & CEO Enrique García who said the project would make a great contribution to the energy balance of the country, along with its environmental and social content, all of which is part of the CAF objectives of supporting infrastructure projects which can contribute to the sustainable development of the region.

In this respect, the project includes conservation plans for the Daule and Peripa river basin including reforestation and discharge control, together with training and environmental education programs for the inhabitants of the surrounding localities, he said.

Construction of the Daule-Peripa Hydroelectric Plant, with a planned installed capacity of 230 MW, began in 1995, when CAF granted its first loan for US$76.8 million, followed by a second in 1996 for US$62.5 million.

The total cost of the project is US$296 million, of which CAF participates – including the loan granted today – with US$188 million (65% of total). The plant is scheduled to start operations in 1999.

CAF is an international financial organization which includes in its policies the sustainable development of its shareholder countries whose members are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, nation which form Andean Community, along with Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.