Managua - Nicragua's President Daniel Ortega Friday defended Iran's intention to build a 230-million-dollar hydroelectric power in his country against charges it was an illegal arrangement. Ortega denounced opponents of the deal as "ignorant."
Former presidential candidate and dissident Sandinista leader Edmundo Jarquin has charged that the Baboque station on the Tuma River would end up as the property of the Iranian state company that was building it.
"The proper procedures for approving finance and involvement by all the corresponding ministries preceded signing of the agreement," Ortega said. "Those who speak otherwise are ignorant."
Ortega said the governments of Iran and Nicaragua have been looking for sources of renewable energy to help alleviate the power needs of the country, which is now dependent in the interim on Venezuela for extra power.
"I knew that Iran was interested in constructing a hydroelectric plant, and it's a blessing that the financing has been provided, because we do not want to lose our light," he said.
Minister of Energy and Mines Emilio Rappaccioli noted that the credit will be paid back in ten years at 5 per cent interest. Jarquin believes the terms are too steep for Nicaragua.
Liberal deputy Francisco Aguirre, president of the economic commission of the Parliament, criticized the "lack of information and transparency" in the deal, which he said came about at the personal level between governments, just as Ortega has done in deals with Venezuela.
The Boboque project, with a 70 Megawatt capacity, is to be constructed on the Tuma River, in the northern province of Jinotega.
Nicaragua and Iran had diplomatic relations during the first Sandinista government in the 1980s. The relationship resumed when Ortega returned to power in early 2007.
