Announcement of Seventeen Million Six Hundred Thousand US Dollars Power Loan in Colombia on January 20, 1960

CJ G FOR IMMEDIATE RELEA·SE ~~·"·sl WORLD f\JTERNA·r1 ECONSTRU rfT u o 1818 H STREET, N.W.;, WASHINGTON 2.5, D. C. TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE3-6360 PRESS REL.EASE NO. 619 Sll'BJE,9T: $1 T::6 million power loan in Janua.ry 20, 1990· Colombia The World Bank today made a loan equivalent to $17. 6 million in Colombia for projects to increase the supply of po,J·~r to Bogota and the surrounding area. The new installations will have a ge11erating capacity of 117; 000 kilowatts, or nearly double the present ca.pac.ity of the power system serving this a.rea. - Five private banl~ axe participating in the loan, without tq.e World Bank's guarantee, for a total amount of $691,000 represefting the first . three maturities and. part of the fourth ~11.ich fall due between May 15, 1963 and Novemper 15, 1964. The paJ:"ticipating banks are Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, Brow. Brothers Harriman & co. of New York, Chemical Bank New York Trust Company, Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank of Philadelphia and Grace National Dank of New York. The loan was made to Empresa de Energia Electrica. de Bogota, an autonomous agency established by the Municipality of Bogota to provide electric power for the city and it"s surrounding area. ,! Bogota, the capital of Colombia, h¥ grown from a city of 300,000 to approximately 1,000,000 in the past twepty yea.rs • It is also one of the chief industrial and commercial centers of Colombia. The,. sup:gly of electric '· power has r1ot kept pace with the demands of residential, industrial and • commerciaJ. users and for many years restrictions on consumption have been in effect. Even with these restrictions., the average annual increase in elec:tr:i ,:: }?OWE'i." sa.les dur5.ng the past 10 ye.9.rs has been 12~'%., with industry I,,, '' ·" - 2 - and commerce accounting for 6CF/o of total sales in 1958. The projects now •• being undertal:en with Bank assistance are part of an expansion program which, bl 1970,l would add ~ut 400,000 kilowatts of new capacity to the 128,000 kilowatts presently available, for the Bogota area. The topographical conditions in the Bogot~ a.rea are extremely favorable to the ecfonomic development of hydroelectric power. In the first 15! miles '~ }a ( 25 km. ) after leaving the plateau rm which Bog~ta ·is sit11ated, the Bcigo1 1 River drops from an elevation of 8.,300 feet (2,540 meters) above sea lev~l to about 2,400. feet (7'30 meters). Empresa has,, partially used this i nearby 1 hydroelectric power potential in three povre·r stations. One of the projects now being undertaken with Bank assistance is the addition of a foui:'th 18,000-~ilowatt unit in ope of the existing plants. -~n addition, a ,,dam (Tomi:ne) wi1.l be built on a tributary of the Bogota, to create a reservoir • to regulate the flow of -water to existing power plants and. to increase the water flow sufficiently to permit the construction, near an existing plant, of a new 66,000-kilowatt hydroelectric plant, to be known as Salte II. Empresa is also installing a new 33,000-kilowatt thermal power plant near Bogota. This increase in Empresa's generatimg capacity will necessitate extensive i~provement and rehabilitation of the transmission and distribu- tion facilities, which are also being undertaken. The total cost of the projects is est,imated at the equivalent of' $30.4 million. The Bank's loan will cover the foreign exchange requirements; local currency requirements will be provided by Empresa from its own resources. The loan is for a term of 25 years and bears interest of 6% per annum, including the 1% commission which is allocated to the Bank's Special Reserve. Amortization will begin May 15, 1963. The loan is gua.ranteed, by the Republic of Colombia. Including this' loan the Bank has made 15 loans totaling $148.2 million in Colombia for the development of electric power and agriculture and for highway and railroad expansion. Af'ter having been approved by the Bank's Executive Directors, the loan documents were signed by~- Ignacio Mesa Salazar, Charg;e d'Affaires a . i. of the Colombian Embassy in Washington, on l:>ehalf of the Republic of Colombia, ai:d by Dr. y.a.nu~~ Madero-~Pa.ris, General Manager, on behalf of Empresa de Ener- gia Electrica de \~ogcta.