NEW PROJECTS
IDB funds Central American regional electricity system

The IDB will help to finance the Central American Electric Interconnection System (SIEPAC) with a $240 million loan approved in November. A keystone project for the long-sought goal of regional energy integration, SIEPAC is also a central part of the Puebla-Panama Plan for Mesoamerican development.

At an estimated total cost of $320.3 million, the SIEPAC project will develop Central America’s first regional power grid and establish a regional wholesale electricity market including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.

The project seeks to bring the benefits of integration to those countries’ efforts to improve their national power systems. The regional market will gradually allow qualified agents to buy or sell electricity no matter where they are located in the Central American isthmus. In turn, the creation of a regional market with clear and uniform rules is expected to offer incentives for building larger and more efficient power plants, sparking investments that would help reduce the cost of electricity in the region and strengthen the reliability of their electricity systems.

See link at right for news about additional IDB projects.

New appointments

Stephen L. Abrahams has been named executive secretary of the IDB’s Oversight Committee on Fraud and Corruption. The committee was created earlier this year to coordinate the Bank’s action with regard to any allegation of fraud or corruption with respect to staff members or others in any way connected to IDB activities or operations. Abrahams has been with the IDB since 1973 and has served as chief of the Capital Markets Division in the Finance Department since 1991.

Máximo Jeria has been named deputy manager of the IDB’s Regional Operations Department 3. He was most recently chief of the State and Civil Society Division within the same department. Jeria succeeds Miguel Rivera, who has retired from the IDB.

Lionel Nicol has been appointed chief of the Country Division in Regional Operations Department 2. He was chief of the Social Programs Division in the same department. Nicol succeeds Richard Archi, who has also retired from the Bank.

Christian Gómez has been named Chief of the Social Programs Division in Regional Operations Department 2. He previously held the same position in the Regional Operations Department 1.

Alicia Ritchie has been appointed chief of the Social Programs Division in the Regional Operations Department1. She was principal coordinator in the Office of the Multilateral Investment Fund.

Noriaki Kishimoto, previously a senior official with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, has been named deputy manager of the Office of the Multilateral Investment Fund at the IDB. He succeeds Kyoichi Kato, who has left the Bank.

Date posted: December, 2001