China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean provides $20 million loan to Uruguay's Financial Trust for Tacuarembo-Salto 500 kV Transmission Ring

Project narrative

On September 21, 2021, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Invest signed a $87 million loan package with Uruguay's Financial Trust for the Tacuarembo-Salto 500 kV Transmission Ring project. Of this loan package, $20 million was provided by the People's Bank of China (PBC) via the IDB Invest-administered China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean. Before the IDB signed the official loan package, Ambassador Wang Gang attended a signing and launching ceremony for China's involvement in the project on on May 31, 2021. The bidding for the 500kV transmission and transformation ring network for the Uruguay State Power Corporation was initiated in October 2019 and closed in July 2020. On December 30, 2020, the project was won by China Machinery Engineering Group (CMEC) for $178 million. The construction period for the project was estimated to be 42 months. In September 2023, CMEC completed the construction of two types of towers, and the construction for the project remains on its projected schedule. The transmission and transformation ring network is planned to cover five provinces in Uruguay. According to China-CELAC forum, it is the largest infrastructure project won by China in Uruguay since diplomatic relations were established. The project will transmit northern wind power to UPM Pulp paper mill in Uruguay to improve the large-scale and long-distance consumption capacity of Uruguay's domestic power grid, improve the power supply status of the power grid, and help develop the economy. It will also meet the transmission demand for a number of other major projects in Uruguay and strengthen the stability of the national power system.