On the evening of Feb 4, 2015, the commencement ceremony of the Nestor Kirchner Hydropower Station and the Jorge Saipan Nick Hydropower Station was held in Beijing. Argentine President Cristina hosted the ceremony and announced the launch of the project, marking the step into the construction stage.
Wang Jianping, chairman of Energy China and Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as Argentine Federal Minister of Planning and Minister of Economy, were invited to the ceremony. Witnessed by these guests, the delegates from CGGC, Argentine EISA Company and the Argentine Federal Ministry of Planning signed the project launch order. After that, the ceremony venue in Beijing had a video connection with the construction site in Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Cristina also delivered warm remarks during the ceremony. She pointed out that the Nestor Kirchner Hydropower Station and the Jorge Saipan Nick Hydropower Station are Argentina's largest hydropower station projects, as well as the most important engineering projects in history. Under unremitting efforts of all parties concerned, up to today’s groundbreaking ceremony since the project planning in 1975, the dream of Argentine people would immediately come true.
Cristina expressed that Argentina pays high attention to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and hopes bilateral cooperation yield more fruitful results. Marked by the two hydropower stations, Argentina will continue to enhance the cooperation with China’s large enterprises in more big projects, thus promoting Argentina's economic and social development, constantly improving the livelihood of the people of Argentina, and enhancing the international competitiveness of Argentina.
It is reported that the two hydropower stations in the Patagonia province of Santa Cruz will be constructed on the Santa Cruz River, the longest in Argentina. The expected generating capacity of the two stations is 1740MW, i.e. the Nestor Kirchner and Jorge Saipan Nick with an installed capacity of 1140 and 600 megawatts respectively. The project with a contract value of USD 5.56 billion, is the largest hydropower project in Argentina, and is also the largest electric power project undertaken by Chinese enterprises in the international market. It will be built by China Gezhouba Group Corporation in collaboration with Argentine EISA Company.
