Peru to appoint Camisea gas project ombudsman

By an OGJ correspondent

LIMA, May 21 -- Peru's government has given its energy ministry authorization to appoint an ombudsman for the $1.3 billion Camisea natural gas project 500 km east of Lima on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

Energy Minister Jaime Quijandria said the initiative for the appointment came from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), following a successful experience with an ombudsman on the pipeline built to transport gas from Bolivian fields to Brazil. IADB has supplied the ministry with information on the process used to select the pipeline ombudsman and how that operation worked.

IADB—together with the Andean Development Corp and international banks—plans to finance $500 million of the Camisea project. IADB recently spent 15 days in Peru in preparation for studies leading toward that goal. Apart from banking and technical requirements, credit approval will be based strongly on environmental considerations.

The most environmentally sensitive areas of the project—the Las Malvinas gas fields region and the first third of the pipeline extending across the Andes through the jungle—have already had their environmental impact assessments approved.

As for the ombudsman, Quijandria said Peru would select someone with national and, if possible, international prestige in whom citizens could place their trust. The chosen individual would serve as an intermediary for resolving controversies among companies, the state, indigenous communities, and nongovernmental organizations participating in the project that may have different viewpoints.