Light Servicos de Electricidade S.A.

A MIGA-guaranteed project is working to upgrade electricity services in power-strapped Brazil, providing safe, legal power connections throughout Rio de Janeiro, including in low-income communities. The $23 million guarantee went to a bank syndicate led by Citibank N.A., covering part of a loan to Light Servicos de Electricidade S.A. against transfer restriction and expropriation. The project is expected to improve transmission and distribution by establishing and upgrading power networks and installing transformers and meters.

The project calls for the supply of power to 176,000 additional households and 250 industrial customers. In coordination with the local government and NGOs, Light also has a special program (PRONAI) to upgrade conditions in low-income areas, where safety hazards such as electrocution are rife, and to provide essential services at an affordable cost. The recent power crisis has added a new urgency to the program, which in 2000 reached out to about 150,000 new low-income clients. By 2005, Light expects to be present in 728 slums and 594 low-income communities. For slum residents, the program provides a steady, safe source of power and helps document proof of residence, necessary for getting a telephone and establishing credit. Through the program, Light also works to increase both the quality and quantity of educational programs at the local level, through scholarships, training activities, and the donation of computers and hardware to local schools.