A Brazilian consortium has reached an agreement to pay some 600 farmers to leave land in eastern Nicaragua where the company plans to build a US$625 million hydroelectric dam, says Marcelo Conde, head of the group, Centrales Hidroeléctricas de Centroamerica (CHC). CHC, a joint venture of two Brazilian entities, the Queiroz Galvão construction company and Brazil’s state-controlled electric utility Eletrobrás, would not disclose the price it has agreed upon with farmers for the 5,200 hectares (13,000 acres) of land. The joint venture will start building the 220-megawatt dam this year, Conde says. CHC has agreed to plant one million trees in the Rio Grande de Matagalpa river basin, which was widely deforested on account of land clearing for agriculture and firewood. The... [Log in to read more]
