Nicaragua says Iran Centam power project on track

Reuters: Nicaragua said on Wednesday that Iran has approved financing to construct a power plant in the impoverished Central American country, hit hard in recent years by spiraling energy costs.
MANAGUA, March 12 (Reuters) – Nicaragua said on Wednesday that Iran has approved financing to construct a power plant in the impoverished Central American country, hit hard in recent years by spiraling energy costs.

Nicaraguan Energy Minister Emilio Rappaccioli told reporters he had been informed that Iran has approved a plan for an Iranian firm to build the hydroelectric project.

Nicaragua and Iran announced the project last August and said it would cost $120 million. The aim is to have it built by 2011.

Despite U.S. warnings, leftist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is building alliances with anti-Washington countries like Iran and Venezuela, which are flush with cash from high world oil prices and eager to win friends in Latin America.

Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War veteran, is eager for assistance in helping end frequent energy blackouts that hurt public support for him.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent large electricity generators to Nicaragua this year that have helped shorten the blackouts.

(Reporting by Ivan Castro, editing by Richard Chang)