Puerto Nariño (Colombia)).- Nearly 4,000 square meters of jungle were razed in 2015 in the middle of the Amazon, in the Colombian municipality of Puerto Nariño, to build a solar farm that would benefit three indigenous communities with electricity. However, to this day, that project has not allowed them to light a light bulb.
In eight years, this project has had 7 suspensions, 17 extensions and 8 extensions guaranteed by the audit and which, according to the Comptroller General of the Republic, are at high risk of being left as ‘white elephants’. Meanwhile, the deforested patch on the banks of the Amazon River remains intact.
This has caused the environment of the indigenous communities of Macedonia, San Martín de Amacayacu and 20 de Julio, who live in this jungle area of the Colombian department of Amazonas, to have taken on shades of disappointment, as they claim to have entrusted their jungle to a project that So far, it has only destroyed the most sacred thing they have: nature.
“This is very sad. The company left everything abandoned, the panels are rotting and many implements have been stolen. We have made community mingas (protests) to try to prevent this from rotting any more, but it has been impossible. The abandonment is total,” Clever Talanta, curaca of the 20 de Julio indigenous community, told EFE.
The indigenous leader also affirms that the contractors left the place and did not cancel some obligations they had with the community that today awaits answers.
“They owe them to several workers that we put in the area, men and women, who now need their money to get ahead. They left nothing here, only a felled forest and zero energy, ”she points out.
This solar farm is 68.74% complete, had an initial value of 26,869 million pesos (6 million dollars), but additions were made for 2,866 million pesos (640,000 dollars) for a total cost of 29,736 million pesos (6.7 million dollars), however, has not produced a kilowatt of energy.
“It is urgent to tell the authorities to come and finish this, we cannot be left with a ‘white elephant’ in our territory, feel that we have been robbed of the illusion of getting ahead, receiving tourists and having electricity,” says Urbano Ferreira, an indigenous from the area.
This fact was also denounced by the congressman of the official Historical Pact Alejandro Ocampo who assured that the House of Representatives will ask the company responsible for the execution of the project for explanations.
“One of the commitments we made to the people is to make a presence in the territory and we closely follow what happens with this solar farm, a few meters from the Amazon River and very close to the border with Peru. The communities must have answers now”, insists Ocampo to EFE.
DROWNED BY DIESEL
Not being interconnected with the energy system at the national level, and in the absence of clean energy solutions, the department of Amazonas has two large plants that operate 24 hours a day with diesel fuel to supply their communities.
The first is in the departmental capital, Leticia, and its consumption exceeds 2.5 million gallons per year; the second, in Puerto Nariño, a town near the capital and connected by river that is very close to the communities affected by the abandoned solar farm.
The locals assure that the constant noise of these plants generates disturbance in the fauna and flora, much more so because it is near the Amazon River and next to the hamlets (villages).
“Diesel is killing us, that makes a lot of noise and pollution. We need clean energy, to finish the solar panels, but please, do not rob these communities, here we also want to progress”, concludes the curaca of July 20. EFE
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