The Government projects that the shrimp farm electrification plan will begin to be executed in the second half of 2023

The elimination of the diesel subsidy for shrimp producers with more than 30 hectares that the Government ordered since last Friday, through Executive Decree 614, in addition to generating criticism and rejection by this productive sector, also revived old desires and claims, such as an electrification plan for some 55,000 hectares of shrimp farms that after three years, which includes the past and current governments, has not materialized.

This failed plan, which in August 2019 obtained a first financing from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) for $200 million, was cited last weekend by José Antonio Camposano, president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture ( CNA), to highlight that the private sector did present alternatives for the migration from the use of fossil fuels to clean energies such as electricity.

The project includes the construction of public infrastructure to bring electricity service to rural areas where shrimp farms are located. It is a 15-year term financing, with a 5-year grace period. The beneficiaries of this plan were estimated to be around 1,100 farms, equivalent to 55,000 hectares, in the provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí, Guayas and El Oro would be covered by the project.

Electrification of shrimp farms: “From the sector we perceive that the issue has not been given the priority it deserves”

“Alternatives to the use of fossil fuels? Of course there are and our sector has driven them to exhaustion. However, there has not been a firm decision to implement the electrification project for the rural shrimp sector. Execution of his own schedule: zero!” The leader lamented on his Twitter account, where he posted the schedule of the current regime, in which -according to him- the first disbursement should be made in October 2021, but “by December 2022 absolutely nothing has happened due to a lack of political will,” he emphasized.

What the president of the CNA refers to is the issuance of sovereign guarantees by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, from the past and the current government, so that the CAF disburses the funds; however, after two extensions and a third term that expires this month, these conditions have not been met.

Regarding the failure to issue sovereign guarantees for this electrification project, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Pablo Arosemena, pointed out that the public company that had to assume the debt, which is the National Electricity Corporation (CNEL), never had the capacity to indebtedness to execute the project.

“That is why it was illegal, irresponsible and unfeasible to grant that sovereign guarantee in this way,” justified Arosemena, who acknowledged that for years previous administrations did not manage any alternative solution, but recalled that the current government decided to take the debt directly and execute the project at through the Ministry of Energy. In October 2021, the current regime announced that negotiations with the CAF began to approve a new $200 million loan.

A $200 million loan is managed with CAF for the electrification of the shrimp sector

“The MEF solves something that for years was stagnant as unfeasible. It is important to highlight that what was not managed from the previous government, it is in this government that the final solution is finally achieved, without harming the interests of Ecuadorians,” Arosemena said.

The official indicated that the loan is projected to be approved in the first semester of 2023 and can be executed as of the second semester. “These times depend on the CAF. The plan to be executed is the same as planned, with the improvements or adaptations that were necessary due to the time that has elapsed”. (YO)