MANAGUA – The Nicaraguan government and Brazilian construction company Andrade Gutierrez have signed an agreement for financial and technical studies to be conducted on the Brito hydroelectric project, officials said Friday.

The technical studies will allow the partners to determine investment and financing costs for a project that is expected to generate 250 MW of electricity and in which Andrade Gutierrez is prepared to invest some $600 million.

The project, which is to include the construction of two dams, will be built near the border with Costa Rica and will use the waters of Lake Nicaragua to regulate the reservoirs.

The accord states that to execute this project, scheduled for completion in 2014, an investing company will be formed in which the Nicaraguan government will have a 10 percent stake.

The agreement – signed Thursday by Energy and Mines Minister Emilio Rappaccioli and the Brazilian firm's vice president, Ronaldo Pereira – also establishes that an updated study be drawn up on the water resources of that region of southern Nicaragua and the project's environmental impact.