29 Mar
Posted by Brian Anderson as Finance Help
Paraguay’s state power company Ande has been incapable of guaranteeing safe and reliable electricity supply, according to government economic and energy affairs advisor Carlos Balmelli.
Balmelli made the comment during the presentation of plans to revamp the sector in light of the country’s power crisis.
The expansion, opening and modernization of the power sector is more than 20 years overdue, said the official
The lack of an energy policy to establish public and private synergies has led to a lack of investments needed to guarantee supply and has impacted economic development, he added.
“The time has come to transform Ande’s monopolistic model into one that stimulates and permits the participation of private investors.”
The current legal framework – law 966 that created the state utility in 1964 – is “precarious” and does not entertain the possibility of private sector participation, except for law 3009 passed in 2006 that allows generation from independent producers, but only for export.
29 Mar
Posted by Brian Anderson as Finance Help
Chilean state bank BancoEstado has so far received earthquake-related insurance claims from more than 30,000 clients, the bank said in a press release.
An 8.8-magnitude quake struck Chile on February 27 that killed hundreds and caused massive destruction and damage to property and infrastructure. BancoEstado’s clients have 90 days to file their claims.
The bank said the areas affected by the quake contain close to 408,000 issued mortgage loans, of which 98% have earthquake coverage.
29 Mar
Posted by Brian Anderson as Finance Help
Manufacturing companies in the Southern Cone are lagging in terms of IT continuity preparation, California-based virtualization software company VMware’s commercial manager for the Southern Cone, Pedro Vignola, told BNamericas.
The IT systems of many manufacturing companies would be exposed in the event of a natural disaster, as their technologies are primarily hardware-based. Carrying out a disaster recovery plan may pose administration difficulties when a company attempts to transfer information between different hardware units, which are oftentimes inflexible, according to the executive.
“These are the companies that have taken longer to adopt new technologies,” he said. “Traditionally, the IT employees within these companies have viewed technology as an expenditure.”
Meanwhile, companies without a backup data center may end up in hot water in the event of an earthquake, flood or other disaster of natural causes.
29 Mar
Posted by Brian Anderson as Finance Help
El Salvador’s environment ministry (Marn) will create a special committee to monitor contamination in rivers, an official from the ministry told BNamericas.
In addition to monitoring pollution levels, the committee will carry out different projects to clean up these water sources throughout the country, the official said.
El Salvador’s rivers are highly contaminated, according to a study recently published by Marn which examined water quality from 125 points in 55 rivers.
None of the rivers in the study has high-quality water, while 60% have regular water quality. The water in 31% of the rivers is of poor quality, and the remaining were qualified as having deplorable water quality, according to the study.
The rivers with the worst water quality are: the Acelhuate river, the middle section of the Sucio river, the upper Suquiapa river, the lower San José de Metapán river and the middle part of the Grande de San Miguel river. <
29 Mar
Posted by Brian Anderson as Finance Help
Sixth and steady.
That’s how Memphis ranks in a new survey of top markets vying for a Google Fiber Network.
The report, compiled by Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Steketee Greiner and Company, is the second in a series of studies of municipalities seeking to lure Google. Memphis remains in the number six spot, unchanged from last week.
Although the report is not an official indicator of Google’s intention and is not affiliated with the Internet giant, it does offer an interesting glimpse into how cities stack up in the effort.
Leading the pack is Duluth, Minn., where the city’s mayor recently jumped into Lake Superior to get Google’s attention. Roundin