Curacao energy venture to include Cuba.

Aquafund Holdings Group, which is registered on the Dutch-speaking island of Aruba, has announced it will incorporate an institutional fund in the Netherlands Antilles for the purpose of resolving the Caribbean's energy problems, beginning in Curacao.

The United Caribbean Energy Fund will finance the installation of four underwater transmission lines in a Phase One plan called Leeward Islands Project.

The first will link hydroelectric plants in the Venezuelan state of Coro to Aruba, the second from Aruba to Curacao, the third from Curacao to Bonaire and the fourth from Curacao back to Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela.

"In the future, we will continue with a second project connecting Venezuela with Trinidad & Tobago, connecting Fortaleza, Brazil, with Trinidad and further connecting Trinidad with Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean" in what will be called the Windward Islands Project, said Aquafund CEO Ronald J. Ortela.

The third project calls for connecting Cuba to Florida, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, in a plan called the Northern Islands Project.

"We are in preliminary discussions with PDVSA senior officers, and we have the support of the Venezuelan govenrment for this project, which may reduce electricity rates in Curacao by 60%," Ortela told CubaNews.

"We are also in discussions with the Dutch company Tennet Holding B.V., which is involved in sea cable projects like Brit-Ned, Nor-Ned and the Cobra Cable linking Denmark and the Netherlands."

Ortela said he hopes to secure financing from the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and others.

Details: Ronald Ortela, President and CEO, Aquafund Holdings Group, PO Box 6107, Kintjanweg 9, Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. Email: [e-mail].