Venezuela hopes to borrow from multilateral lenders and other institutions, half the US$2B investment required for the final part of its Lower Caroni hydroelectric power project, the government’s Venpres news agency reported.

The other half will come from internal resources of state mining and heavy industry holding company, Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), according to the report which quoted CVG president Francisco Rangel.

Construction of the 2100MW Tocoma dam, the last part of a 12,060MW electricity utility, is just beginning and should be completed by 2010. The hydroelectric complex in Venezuela ‘s Bolivar state currently provides about 70% of the country’s electricity needs, which totalled 87,694GWh in 2001.