Companies bid to build new Mexican hydroelectric dam

MEXICO CITY, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Three consortiums have submitted bids to build a new Mexican hydroelectric dam called La Yesca, one of the largest projects launched during outgoing President Vicente Fox's six-year term.

The consortiums are led by Mexico's ICA (ICA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research)(ICA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Italy's Impregilo (IPGI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), and China's Sinohydro Corp., the Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE, said on Friday.

The bids range from Impregilo's $805 million to Sinohydro's $1.25 billion estimate.The dam, one of the largest among dozens of hydroelectric projects in Mexico, will be built where the western coastal states of Nayarit and Jalisco meet and have a generating capacity of 750 megawatts.


The commission is due to rule on which bid it will accept on October 27. Building is expected to create 10,000 jobs and is due to be completed in 2011Situated on the Santiago river, the dam will have a basin of 12 million cubic meters (424 million cubic feet).That is about 20 percent bigger than the El Cajon dam which is close to completion on the same river system, some 40 miles (65 km) upstream of the La Yesca site.The CFE is holding tenders for around half a dozen power generation projects this year.