Uribe urges interconnection

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has urged state power transmission company ISA and its Panamanian counterpart Etesa to accelerate a proposed interconnection project between the two countries, Uribe said during a speech in Panama City to commemorate the country's centenary. "One purpose of this commemoration should be to reaffirm our policy of breaking down barriers. We should accelerate studies and the execution of the electrical interconnection," Colombia's government news agency quoted Uribe as saying. Both Colombia and Panama have already established interconnections with their other respective neighbors, but the "gap is between our two countries, and our obligation is to overcome it as soon as possible," Uribe said. The respective governments of Colombia and Panama have approved plans for a 400km interconnection, pending the completion of feasibility and environmental studies by May 2004. The project would cost some US$200mn, but the exact cost depends on the route the line would take, which is part of the feasibility study. Previous reports indicated the best route would be an undersea cable running from Colombia's Gulf of Uraba following the coast to the north of Bayano in Panama, but if undersea cables prove too difficult to lay, the line would be built completely on land. The line is designed to deliver cheaper Colombian power to Panama and would come online at the same time as the Siepac project designed to interconnect the seven Central American countries by 2007. In terms of gas, the Colombian government has proposed a gas pipeline interconnection with Venezuela, which could be extended to Panama. "Colombia is ready to facilitate and support the construction of a system that would connect Venezuela with Panama through our Caribbean coast," Uribe said.