House approves missing irrigation funds report

Chile's lower house approved Thursday (Dec. 11) a report drafted by the agriculture committee into the whereabouts of 11bn pesos (US$18.3mn) in funds granted by the government's agricultural development institute Indap for irrigation projects, the house reported. The report concluded that in many cases, Indap overestimated projects and their associated risk, as well as the capacity of those who took on the loans to manage larger projects than they were accustomed to. The lack of specialized knowledge on the part of government agencies that work in the sector was also mentioned. For their part, Indap director Ricardo Halabi said the problems are management-related, in other words the poor management capacity of companies that took on the loans. The report will be sent on to the Presidency and the agriculture ministry.