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dam-l LS: Endesa Agrees to Ralco Talks
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Date: July 19, 1999
Subject: Endesa Agrees to Ralco Talks
Source: El Mercurio (Chile), BNA
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Endesa Agrees to Ralco Talks
Endesa Spain executives will meet indigenous and environmental leaders on
July 27 to discuss the construction of its 570MW, US$500mn Ralco
hydroelectric project on the Bio Bio river, upstream from the Pangue
plant, in Chile^s Region VIII.
Indigenous families in the area that Endesa Spain subsidiary Endesa (NYSE:
EOC) plans to flood have sworn to remain in their ancestral lands and have
asked Endesa Spain to delay the plant^s construction.
Of the 91 families in the area slated for flooding, eight refuse to
negotiate land exchanges with Endesa. Indigenous development organization
Conama has authorized land exchanges for 70 families, but of these only 18
have gone through with the deal, Ralco opponents claim, since the
remaining families found a discrepancy between what Endesa had promised
them and what was actually on offer.
Endesa says it has reached agreement with 292 families that will be
affected either directly or indirectly, and has invested US$22mn in the
scheme. Construction company Besalco has already finished two tunnels
connected with the plant, and last week Endesa signed contracts with
Peru's Grana y Montero and Spain's Necso for civil engineering works at
the project.
Pehuenche Indian spokesperson Augustin Correa said the work carried out so
far is illegal considering that not all families have agreed to land
exchange proposals.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone: 510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 591 .91.49
Fax: 510 . 848.10.08
e-mail: monti @irn.org
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