Agência Brasil
Brasília – Speaking at the inauguration of four new turbines at the Tucuruí power plant in the state of Pará, in northern Brazil, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that the country now has a new model for the electricity sector which will attract more investments, give the sector more operational freedom and remove the danger of future blackouts. "The rationing of energy and blackouts of 2001 and 2002 are a thing of the past," said the president.
According to Lula, the Tucuruí expansion is the biggest project in infrastructure and engineering underway in the country at the moment. So far, Tucuruí has cost US$3 billion. With the new turbines, it can now generate 8,370 MW.
Lula went on to say that this year the government was investing R$70 million in Tucuruí and that it should be completed before the end of his term of office. "I hope to be back here before I leave office to inaugurate a completed hydroelectric project because this is something that is so important to the people of the state of Pará," declared the president.
