Updated: 2011-08-10 09:34
By Bao Chang (China Daily)
Sinohydro, ICE power up for $1.2b project
The Sinohydro Corp office in Beijing. The company has been shortlisted
to build a hydropower plant in Costa Rica.
BEIJING - Sinohydro Corp, China's largest hydropower construction
enterprise, is expected to win a $1.2 billion contract to jointly build
a 300-megawatt hydroelectric power station in Costa Rica with the Costa
Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE).
"The plant, which will be operational in 2016, will be a joint venture
between Sinohydro and ICE," Marco Vinicio Ruiz Gutierrez, the Costa
Rican ambassador to China, said on Tuesday.
The Chinese State-owned dam builder has met the Costa Rican government's
technical requirements and is negotiating financing, according to Gutierrez.
Brazil's State-owned Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA has also been
short-listed for the project.
"Chinese firms are interested in investing in companies with high levels
of technology and Costa Rica is an operations center for metal mechanics
and electronics in Central America," Gutierrez said.
China's Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co won a $235 million
contract with ICE to build a 3G network in Costa Rica two years ago. The
project aims to provide telecommunications services for 935,000 customers.
"We are now working with different provincial and city governments to
attract more Chinese investments", as a free-trade agreement (FTA) has
taken effect, Gutierrez added.
The pact between China and Costa Rica was signed in April last year and
took effect on Aug 1 this year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Under the FTA, duty-free status will be phased in for at least 90
percent of the goods from both countries.
On the Chinese side, the goods that will benefit include textile raw
materials and products, light industrial products, machines and
electrical equipment. For Costa Rica, the list includes coffee, beef,
orange juice and seafood.
Sinohydro, ICE power up for $1.2b project
Marco Vinicio Ruiz Gutierrez, Costa Rica's ambassador to China
"Given our definition of development in sustainable terms, our strategy
has been to deepen our relation with emerging markets such as China,"
Gutierrez said.
"In the future, we want to promote Costa Rica as a country through which
Chinese companies have access to Central America."
China is Costa Rica's second-largest trade partner. Xinhua News Agency
reported that bilateral trade increased 19.2 percent last year to $3.8
billion.
"The FTA with China will expand the foreign trade platform of Costa
Rica, offering investors opportunities to invest and produce in our
country," Gutierrez said.
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