Brazil's BNDES Approves $10.8 Billion Loan for Amazon Belo Monte Dam
November 26, 2012 | Source: Reuters
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Brazil's state development bank, BNDES, said on Monday it has approved a loan of 22.5 billion reais ($10.8 billion) to Norte Energia SA, the group building the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon.
The loan is the largest in the bank's history and will finance nearly four-fifths of the dam project, estimated at 28.9 billion reais.
Forty percent of the loan, or 9 billion reais, will be funneled through two banks - 7 billion reais through Brazil's state-owned Caixa Economica Federal (CEF) and 2 billion reais through Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual SA.
The Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River has a maximum designed capacity of 11,233 megawatts, or 33 percent of Brazil's projected new generation capacity between 2015 and 2019.
The government considers the dam essential for Brazil to meet the power needs of an expanding economy and for limiting the need for fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal.
Environmentalists say the dam, along with the workers and roads needed for its construction, will threaten fragile ecosystems and the livelihood of local farmers, fishermen and Indian tribes.
