Cabei to decide on Los Negros hydro loan Oct.

The board of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) will decide in October on a loan request from Costa Rican utility Empresa de Servicios Públicos de Heredia (ESPH) for its US$21mn, 17MW Los Negros hydro project, ESPH planning director Paulo Soto told BNamericas. ESPH is seeking 80% financing and would provide 20% of costs from its own resources. Construction is scheduled to start February and the contract has already been awarded to Italy's Ghella Sogene, Soto said. ESPH is also seeking financing for an US$8.5mn, 9MW expansion to the 6MW Tacares hydro plant. The plant was built in 1937 and abandoned in 1995, but because it already exists there is less risk attached to it, and so ESPH is considering raising 100% of the finance from the securitization of future sales, Soto said. Studies underway into the feasibility of this financing scheme are showing positive results so far, Soto said, adding that ESPH could invite financial institutions to bid for securitized papers "probably" in August 2004. Construction contracts for Tacares will be awarded once the project's financing is in place, he added. ESPH is a private company providing electric power, drinking water and wastewater services to the town of Heredia.