Renewable Energy Companies Help Communities in Nicaragua

    WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Foreign investment companies of the renewable energy sector are contributing to the development of several communities in Nicaragua. They have directly benefited Nicaraguans by providing them with electricity and potable water for the first time, offering them numerous job opportunities and providing them and their family members with health care services. Also, companies such as Hemco, located in Bonanza, and Tumarin, located in Rio Grande, have focused their efforts on helping improve the country's natural resources through reforestation and by decreasing the need for fuel oils as an energy source.

Hemco, a Nicaraguan based company dedicated to mining exploration, renewable energy and forestry plantations, has provided the population of Bonanza in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) of Nicaragua with 1,000 job opportunities. Hemco's labour force consists of different ethnic origins, including Miskitus, Creoles, Mayagnas, Zumus and Mestizos, and also promotes gender equality. Employees, including their spouses and children under the age of 15, receive free medical care and medicine, annual medical check-ups, life insurance, financial loans for home construction and maintenance, 100 KW of power free per month, and financial bonuses.

Additionally, Hemco has created the first private forest reserve in the RAAN, Was Tuna, which has an extension of more than 130 hectares and will conserve the forest's resources, vital for capturing humidity and maintaining the depth of the Rio Concha Urrutia, which supplies drinking water to the people of Bonanza. Hemco has also played its part in developing the Caribbean Coast by working on an urban development plan for the Bonanza Municipality in order to improve and expand urban infrastructure and services.

Tumarin, a hydroelectric project located in Rio Grande, Matagalpa will also have a positive impact on the environment. The minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Juana Argenal, highlighted that the change in the energy matrix will also benefit the environment by decreasing the contaminating effect of the thermal energy generated by fuel oils. The hydroelectric project has also begun a reforestation program in the area, which used to be a forest two decades ago. Argenal also added, "the Tumarin project has come to insert itself into the well-being of the families and sends a message to the world: that Nicaragua is contributing to a sustainable environment."

Also, the project will have a social impact on the community it will be established in, for it will require approximately 3,000 to 6,000 local workers during its three-year construction phase, according to the President of the Central Hydroelectric Projects of Nicaragua (CHN, for its acronym in Spanish), Marcelo Conde who also indicated that a large number of indirect jobs will also be created and will benefit from the commercial and ironmonger activities related to the project.

PRONicaragua is the Nicaraguan Investment Promotion Agency, established in 2002. It is a non-profit, public-private institution whose mission is to generate economic growth and job creation in Nicaragua by attracting high-quality foreign direct investment. The agency provides complimentary support services to qualified investors seeking investment opportunities in our country. For further information, please contact us at (505) 2270-6400 or http://pronicaragua.org.

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