Announcement of 3.2 Million Dollars Loan for Nicaraguan Port on May 22, 1956

I, " FO J MEDIATE.RELEASE WORLD • INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 1818 H STREET, N.W.1 WASHINGTON 25, D. C. TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 PRESS RELEASE NO. 445 SUBJECT: $3.2 million loan ror Nicaraguan port. May 22, 1956 The World Bank today made a loan of ~k3o2 million to improve the port of Co:dnto, Nicaragua's most important seaport~ The loan will help pay for the construction of a new quay, transit sheds and modern cargo- handling equipment. These improvements will eliminate the present serious delays encountered by shipping at Corinto, and will enable the port to handle increasing traffic for some years to come. The Bank of America of San Francisco is participating in the loan, • without the World Bank's guarantee, to the extent of $121,000. This runo'll.£~t represents the first two maturities, que in October 1959 and April 1960. The loan was made to the Corinto Port Authority, a new autonomous agency established by the government to 01-m and operate the port. The Board of Directors or the Authority includes representatives or agri- cultural, commercial ai'ld shipping interests and or the government. Cori.nto is situated on the Pacific Coast, in the most highly de- veloped part or Ni-:,aragua, and approximately 90 miles from Manaeua, the capitaJ. It has a fine, naturally protecte, harbor, and is Nicaragua's only deep-water port on the Pacific. The other Paci.fie coast ports are unpr~tected, and ships using them must be loaded ,and unloaded by lighter • • Corinto is connected to the hlnterlam by rail, and a new highway link to be built with the ht~lp of an. earlier World Bank l()an is expected to be complete by 1959. t • Corinto handles about three-quarters of Nicaragua's international trade • The rapid growth of that trade, and especially of cotton arxl cottonseed ex- ports, 'Nicaragua's chief export commoditieo, ha·ve overtaxed the capacity ot the port. The traffic through Corinto is still increasing. It amounted to 224,000 tons in 1954, a.~d is expected to reach 360,000 tons by 1959. The improvements now being undertaken will increase the capacity ,of the port to handle both ships and cargo. They include the construction of a 1,200- foot re:!.nf'orced concrete w~r, two transit sheds with a total area of 125,000 square feat, and rail !Lid road facilities to serve the wharf and transit sheds. Also included are the addition of cargo-handling equipment -- mainly fork-lift trucks, tractors and trailers -- and the ins'tallatio11 of water, electricity and other service facilities. The project is expected to be complete in the latter part of 1959. The • to·tal oost, including the cost of imported materials and services being fin- anced by the Bank's loan, is e~timated at the equivalent of $4.5 million. The Bank's loan is for a term of 20 years and bears interest of 4-3/4% per annum including the statutory 1% cOirnnission charged by the Banko Amortization will begin October 1, l959. The loan is guaranteed by the Government of Nicarag1.1.a. This is the ninth loan the Bank has made in Nicaragua and brings its total lending there to $21,400,000. The other loans were for agricultural, power and. highway projects. Af"ter having been approved by the 13ank's Executive Directors, the loan documents were signed by His Excellency Dr. Don Guillermo Se~lla-Saca~a, Nicaraguan Ambassador in Washington, on behalf of the Government of Nic~agua, • by Mr. Modesto Armijo, Minister of Development and Public or Work,, arrl Chairman the Board, on behalf or the Port Authority of Corinto, and by Eugene R. Black, President, o~ behalf of the World B$.llk.