Announcement of Seven Million US Dollars Electric Power Loan in Guatemala on June 19, 1968

\\ • 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 1·ELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 68/32 Subject: $7 million electric power June 19, 1968 loan in Guatemala The second stage of a program to meet the electric power requirements of Guatemala's most heavily populated and industrialized Central Region will be assisted by a Bank loan of $7 million. An increase in the supply of power for the Central Region ranks high in Guatemala's economic development plans. The capital, Guatemala City, is lo- cated in this area which also contains almost all the country's industry. The Central Region accounts for 801 of the country's power consumption; power demand • has been growing at a rate of 13% annually and this growth is expected to con- tinue through 1971. A Bank loan of $15 million was made in March 1967 for the installation of 80 megawatts of generating capacity in Guatemala; the largest installation was the 60-MW Jurun-Marinala hydroelectric station about 30 miles south of Guatemala City. The loan announced today will assist in financing the construction of a 33-MW steam electric generating station at the site of the existing Guacalate gas turbine plant. Even when the Jurun-Marinala and Guacalate plants are completed in 1970, the system s~rving the Central Region will need more generating capacity. The new loan also includes funds for the services of coi1sultants to complete pre- investment studies and to prepare the design of the first stage of a hydroelectric sch~e at Lak~ Atitlan which has an ultimate power potential of 400 MW. Suffi- cient p~)wer could be developed by the Atitlan scheme to supply other areas of • Guatemala, in ,acP1dition to the Central Region. /more \,  - 2 - The loan will be made to the Instituto Nacional de Electrificac.ion (llmE), • an autonomous government agency created in 1959 to develop Guatemala's electri~ power resources. It will be for a term of 23 years, including a three-year grace period, and will bear interest of 6-1/4%. The loan will be guaranteed by the Republic of Guatemala. The t.otal cost of the project is estimated at the equivalent of $8. 9 mil- /\ lion. The Bank loan will cover the foreign exchange requirements and the local currency costs will be met by INDE's retained earnings and by Government contria butions. Contracts for construction work and equipment will be awarded on the basis of intemat·.ional competitive bidding. - 0 - • \\ •••