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dam-l ENDESA SETS DATE TO BEGIN RALCO CONSTRUCTION
CHIP News, June 18, 1998
HEADLINE: ENDESA SETS DATE TO BEGIN RALCO CONSTRUCTION
Despite Lingering Doubts Concerning Relocation of Pehuenche Families
SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
SOURCE: LA EPOCA
TEXT: Endesa will begin the bidding process in July on US$50
million in construction work for its controversial Ralco Dam
project, Endesa executive Ignacio Swett said Wednesday, and
construction should begin in early 1999. This amounts to about
10 percent of the total US$500 million cost of the project, which is
scheduled to be completed in 2001.
The utility company executive said Endesa has the water
rights and all necessary governmental authorization to begin
construction, and that the company is confident that 100 percent
of the Pehuenche families affected by the dam's 400 hectare
reservoir will agree to live on alternative lands proposed by the
company - the El Barco and El Huachi properties.
The go-ahead announced yesterday by the Endesa executive
is squarely opposed by a host of Chilean environmental groups,
and may yet have difficulty in securing the consent of the
indigenous families impacted by the dam construction.
Earlier in the week Domingo Namuncura, director of the
National Indigenous Development Council (Conadi), said that
several Pehuenche families have rejected the relocation plan
proposed by Endesa, and that the dam construction cannot go
forward without the approval of all 98 families affected.
Namuncura said the Indigenous Law 19.253 defines the
Upper Bio Bio as an area of indigenous development (ADI),
meaning the Pehuenche's decision to barter these sacred lands
must be unanimous.
In response to this concern, Swett emphasized yesterday
that discussions are still underway with the families that have not
yet agreed to the company's relocation plan, and that a final legal
alternative, a kind of forced arbitration, could be used to resolve
differences.
Indigenous rights activists have criticized Endesa's offer to
provide the Pehuenche with alternative lands, saying the families
were tricked into agreeing to move and that the alternative
properties are unsuitable for the Pehuenche because they are
covered with snow a good part of the year.
Endesa has denied putting any pressure on the families and
has already begun investing US$20 million towards building
homes, warehouses and corrals for the families.
Chile Information Project
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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org