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CHIP News for November 6, 1998
>SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
>SOURCE: LA TERCERA
> -- ENDESA WARNS THAT RALCO IS AT RISK. Electric company
>Endesa General Manager Jaime Bauza said Thursday the future of the
>US$500 million Ralco hydroelectric project is at risk, since
>construction has been paralyzed since August 12 due to conflicts
>with those Pehuenche families who refuse to leave their land. Some
>see it as a good gesture from the company to facilitate a round table
>discussion with these eight families. Bauza said construction would
>have to begin within the next 30 days, or the project, which is
>planned to begin operations in 2002, could be irreversibly affected.
> He said Endesa is concerned about comments made by National
>Indigenous Development Board (Conadi) Director Rodrigo Gonzalez,
>who said there is no planned date to make a decision on the land
>barter contracts between Endesa and the Pehuenche families. The
>eight families opposed to Ralco's construction reiterated Thursday
>that they will only leave their ancestral land when they are dead,
>and that it should not be flooded to construct a reservoir.
> One of the major reasons Bauza gave for the difficulty of Ralco's
>construction is that it has been so delayed that at this time of year, it
>is impossible to detour the river, construct the dam and fill the
>reservoir. Bauza mentioned that the 83 families who have signed
>land barter contracts asked that the project be speeded up so they
>can benefit from what Endesa has offered them. This is a US$20
>million relocation plan which would give 21,000 hectares to the
>Pehuenche families, along with houses and technical support for
>farming.
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