Announcement of Port Study in Nicaragua on March 15, 1967

FOR IMMEDIATE ~ELEASE I . • 1818 !-I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 March 15, 1967 Subject: Port Study in Nicaragua The Government of Nicaragua and the World Bank have signed an agreement where- by the Bank will help finance a feas.ibility study for the expansion of the Port of Corinto. The Bank will pay the foreign exchange. costs of the study, estimated at $175,000, while the Government of Nicaragua will meet the local currency co_s.t;~. In 1956 the Bank made a loan of $3.2 million for the constructio~ of a new quay, transit sheds and modern cargo handling equipment at Corinto, Nicaragua's only deep-water port on the Pacific. The ~oan was ma4e to :the Corinto Port Author- ity, an autonomous agency which owns and operates the port. A subsequent study, • which included traffic forecasts and an analysis of the operational needs of the port, was carried out with the assistance of the United States Agency for Inter- national Development. This study established the urgent need for an expansion of the port's facilities. Dry cargo through the port has almost tripled in the last decade, reaching 640,000 tons -- 140,000 tons above the normal capacity of the port. It is expected that Corinto traffic will continue to grow steadily in the future. The study, which will now be carried out with financial assistance from the Bank, includ~~ pr~li..~inary engineering design, estimates of cost, and final economic and financial analysis of the expansion project. The Anglo-French firm of LIVSET (Livsey and Henderson of London and Societe d 1 Etudes Techniques et Econo- miques of Paris) has been engaged to assist the Port Authority in carrying out the " study. The study will be closely coordinated with the Atlantic Port and Highway ~ Survey being financed by the United Nations Development Progrannne for which the Bank is Executing Agency. The total cost of the feasibility study is estimated at the equivalent of $220,000 and it is sch,eduled for completion in early·l968.