Announcement of the World Bank’s 1981 Annual Report Indicating Highest World Bank Lending to Colombia During Fiscal 1981

. . HOLl) FOR Rflb'\Sf World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.•Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. AR 81/10. EMBARGO: For publication on Monday, September 21, 1981 HIGHEST WORLD BANK LENDING TO COLOMBIA DURING FISCAL 1981 Included Largest Bank Loan Ever Made to a Latin American Country Colombia received 5 loans, totalling $550 million, from the World Bank during fiscal year 1981, according to the Bank's Annual Report published today. This is the largest volume of lending committed by the World Bank to Colombia in one year. World Bank lending to Colombia in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1981, supported 5 development projects and included a loan of $359 million, the largest ever made to a Latin American country, to assist in the construction of the Guavio hydroelectric plant. Other loans made will help finance the Playas hydropower plant ($85 million), village electrification ($36 million), irrigation rehabilitation ($37 million) and rural roads ($33 million). The five projects assisted by the World Bank will required total investments of about $1.86 billion. Since 1949, the World Bank has approved a total of 92 loans to Colombla, amounting to $3,330~9 million (including a $19.5 million credit for highways from the International Development Association, the Bank's soft-loan affiliate, in 1961). The $359 million loan for the Guavio power project was made to the Empresa de Energ(a Electrica de Bogota~ The Guavio power plant, which will be the largest hydroelectric facility in Colombia, will have an Initial capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) and a final capacity of 1,600 MW by the end of the century. The project will include a 950 million cubic meter capacity reservoir on the Guavio river, 70 kilometers east of Bogota~ The plant will provide 15% of the electricity needed in Colombia by 1988, serving mainly Bogota and its environs· but also the national interconnected network. Two other Bank loans went to the power sector..· An $85 million loan to Empresas PJblicas de Medell(n will help finance the Playas power plant which will have a capacity of 200 MW, and will serve Medell(n and its environs. I • .• NOTE; Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents.  -2- The Bank also approved a $36 million loan to the Corporacion Electrica de la Costa Atlantica (CORELCA). The project will expand and improve electricity services to 215,000 households in rural areas of Colombia's underdeveloped north coastal region.~ Many of Colombia's isolated agricultural areas will also be better integrated into the national economy by a rural roads program supported by the World Bank with a $33 million loan. The loan will help finance the first phase of c' 10-year investment pro- gram of the National Feeder Roads Fund, the prospect of construction and rehabilita- tion of about 1,420 kilometers of rural roads, purchase of maintenance equipment and hand tools and technical assistance. Finally, a $37 million loan will finance a project to rehabilitate and expand ir- rigation and drainage systems and improve maintenance on about 47,000 hectares in seven departments of the country. The project is expected to benefit about 4700 farm families, including 1500 land reform beneficiaries, through more efficient water use and increased agricultural production. WORLD BANK/IDA LENDING TO COLOMBIA (To June 30, 1981) WORLD BANK IDA BANK/IDA TOTAL SECTOR Loans Amount* Credits** Amount No. Amount* I '• l Agriculture and Rural Development Education 14 3 $ 297.6 35.3 $ - 14 3 $ 297 .. 6 35.3 • Industry 14 670.0 14 670.0 Non-project 2 68.o 2 68.0 Nutrition 1 25.0 1 25.0 Power 27 1,374.1 27 1,374.1 Telecommunications 5 150.0 5 150.0 Transportation 15 419.7 ( 1) 19.5 15 439.2 Urban Development 2 38.3 2 38.3 Water Supply and Sewerage 9 233.4 9 233.4 TOTAL: 92 $3,311.4 ( 1) $19.5 92 $3,330.9 NOTES: IDA: International Development Association *Original amount, round figures, in millions of U.S. dollars **Joint BANK/IDA operations are counted only once, as Bank operations. When more than ~,e :Jan is made for a single project, they are counted only once. •