Ministry rules out Río Sinú hydro project

Colombia's environmental ministry has declined to allow Colombian firm URRA to begin the environmental review process for its proposed 350MW Río Sinú hydro project, the ministry said in a statement. The firm in 2008 filed to begin the formal environmental review process for the project, which was to have been located in the Paramillo natural park in Córdoba department. Besides generating power, URRA said that the project would help control occasional floods along the river. The ministry said that the project could not move forward because the proposed development site was in a natural park. "Natural parks cannot be touched," the ministry said. "It's in the constitution."