Nicaraguan state-owned power company Enel is drafting rules for the sale of publicly-owned hydro and thermal power plants. The hydro plants under the auction block are those developed under the Hidrogesa scheme made up of the 50MW Centroamerica and 50MW Santa Barbara plants.
The sale was originally planned for last year but in October 2000 Enel declared the process null and void when none of the pre-qualified companies presented bids, due to court action alleging the sale was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court rejected these allegations and now there are no legal obstacles to the process.