Govt. Puts Celesc Division Bill to Congress

Brazil's Santa Catarina state government has presented a bill to the state congress that would reform the structure of distributor Celesc by splitting off company assets into new divisions and making management more professional, the state government reported. The bill would create Celesc Generation and Celesc Telecommunications, which would be offered to the private sector for administrative concessions. Celesc Distribution would remain under state government control. Management and administration concessions for the project will also be studied. Santa Catarina state controls 50.18% of Celesc, while Banco do Brasil pension fund Previ owns about 12%. Celesc distributes power to all of Santa Catarina state and has 14% of 1,140MW hydro project Machadinho, 10% of the 880MW Campos Novos hydro project and 23% of the 125MW Dona Francisca hydro project.