News Releases

Dec 9, 2005

IDB, Colombia sign financing for more than $450 million

Loans for hydroelectricity, mass transit and national census

MEDELLÍN, Colombia ? In the presence of President Alvaro Uribe, senior Colombian officials and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, today signed more than $450 million in loans and grants to support projects for hydroelectricity, mass transit, the national census, social equity and business growth.

It was President Moreno’s first signing ceremony for major loans to Colombia since he became head of the financial institutional on Oct. 1.

Two loans for $200 million each were signed for the Porce III hydroelectric power project, located 147 kilometers northeast of Medellín, and for the modernizing of the mass transit system in Cali.

A $48 million loan was signed to support the 2005 general census.

Two grants were also signed, $1,420,200 from the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) to help the private sector develop franchising and $600,000 from the IDB to support the advance of social equity in the department of Antioquia. The MIF is an autonomous fund administered by the IDB.

President Uribe and the mayor of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo Valderrama, attended the ceremony as witnesses and guests of honor.

The general manager of Empresas Públicas de Medellín, Juan Felipe Gaviria Gutiérrez, signed the loan for Porce II, while Transportation Minister Andrés Uriel Gallego Henao signed the loan contract to help finance the Integrated Mass Transportation System for Cali. Ernesto Rojas Morales, director of the National Administrative Statistics Department, signed the loan that supports the 2005 general census.

The executive president of the Chamber of Commerce of Medellín for Antioquia, Lina Vélez de Nicholls, signed the MIF grant and Anibal Gaviria Correa, governor of the Department of Antioquia, signed the grant to assist the Alianza de Antioquia por la Equidad in developing ways to fight poverty and achieve greater social and economic inclusion.

The loans and grants signify the close collaboration between the IDB and Colombian authorities in sharing a clear development and poverty reduction strategy with an active role of the Bank as well as the national executing agencies in all phases of operations ? including project identification, preparation and evaluation.

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