Announcement of Sixty Million US Dollars Electric Power Loan in Argentina on October 8, 1969

i rI -., ., l\ •< • j, / \ ·.J r ,, • . a \ .... \ ) " ., __·· T. "t_-~:. ,, -· /'' . . ,,. ..__ '1:--J. s· ~ ·· 1:~ · · c. ~-~ u .......~-·, _., ·· i. .,,~( f--\. i i c) ·, r\J,.l) . o .-- '1 c l r::~ \J. c:·· LC) .0• " /l E,.. 1 , -r \ 1 __ r\;. 1818 H STREET. N.W .. WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 69/64 Subject: $60 million electric power October 8, 19r69 loan in Argentina The World Bank has approved a loan equivalent to $60 million for the expansion of the electric power transmission and distribution system serving Greater Buenos Aires, which includes Argentina's federal capital and 31 municipa! ~i~:~icts. The loan will be made to Servicios Electricos del Gran Buenos Aires, S.A. (SEGBA), the larger of the two utilities supplying Greater Buenos Aires which con- tains about a third of the country's population and two-thirds of its industries. The two utilities, whose operations are closely coordinated, generate and distri- • bute more than half the total public supply of electricity in Argentina. In four years' time, the El Chocon hydroelectric power plant (ultimate capacity 1,200 mega- watts), 700 miles southwest of Buenos Aires -- for which the World Bank made a loan of $82 million in 1968 -- and a new 313-MW nuclear power plant at Atucha will be con·· nected to the Buenos Aires system. The project being assi~ted by the loan announced today comprises SEGBA' s expn~, .. sion ~rogram for 1970-72. lts main features are to build a 75-mile transmission ring around Buenos Aires, to connect the transmission lines from El Chocon and· Atucha, and to further extend and strengthen the distribution network in Greater Buenos Aires. SEGBA's investment in generating capacity will be relatiyely small. The project thus marks SEGBA's transformation from a utility supplying primarily self-generated electricity to a distributor of. large amounts of energy gene'rated .. by others outside the. metropolitan area • • /more  /? // /; II r/ Bank P1:ess Release No. 69-64 - Argentina Electric Power (r • - 2 - The Bank loan to S.EGBA will be guaranteed by the· Argentine Republic. will be for a term of 20 years, including~ 4-year period nf grace, with interest It: at T'lt, per annum. This will be the Bank•~ third loan to SEGBA; ear lier loans, ~.mounting to $150 million, helped to finance a 600-MW thermal generating station and transmission and distribution expansion. The total cost of SEGBA 1 s three-year expansion program is c~timated at the equivalent of $247 million. The Bank loan will cover the bulk of the foreign e:i!:change requirements; the remaining cos ts will be financed by SEGBA' s internal cash generation.,. ~ issues, and suppU.ers' credits. - 0 - • •