SAO PAULO, March 15 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-owned power utility Eletrobras (ELET6.SA) will boost investment by about two-thirds this year mainly for the some of the largest hydropower dam and electricity transmission projects in the nation, the company's chief executive said on Monday.
Eletrobras, Latin America's largest power holding utility, plans to increase investment to 9 billion reais ($5.1 billion) this year from 5.4 billion reais in 2009, CEO Jose Antonio Muniz said. Investments would total around 15 billion reais for 2011-2012, excluding new projects in which the company could take part, he added.
'To the 15 billion we will have to add something for new projects that could be contemplated,' Muniz said at a press conference at an energy-related event in Sao Paulo.
The investments to be made this year would go mainly to the Santo Antonio and Jirau hydroelectric power stations and to transmission lines that link Porto Velho in the north of Brazil to Sao Paulo in the southeast.
A planned capital injection of around 14 billion reais by Brazil's government, to enable the company to pay dividends owed to shareholders since the 1970s, would not happen until at least 2011 by when a new government will have been installed.
Eletrobras will sign an agreement with neighbor Uruguay for the construction of a transmission line running to the country from Brazil's southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul.
The company is also planning to participate in hydroelectric projects in Nicaragua, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica and Guyana and would provide details on these investments in plans it will publish in June.
Eletrobras shares rose 2.5 percent to 31.64 reais in Sao Paulo.
($1=1.765 reais) (Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Peter Murphy; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:08pm EDT
Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras S.A.
ELET6.SA
R$ 31.40
+0.53+1.72%
