MSG116G/01E VENEZUELA-FINANCE: Privatisation of Mines Approved

CARACAS, Nov 23 (IPS) - The Venezuelan government approved the privatisation of the steel, aluminum and mining companies run by the Guyana Corporation on Wednesday, while Congress called for the firing of the head of the company.

"I'm the object of a conspiracy to stop our work to open the industry to private capital," said Guyana Corporation president Alfredo Gruber, after announcing the the Council of Ministers had given the go ahead to privatise the corporation.

The sales of Alcasa (aluminum), Fesilven (ferrosilicon) Carbonorca (anodes) and some of Sidor (steel) will begin in mid 1995, reported corporation board member Gustavo Coronel.

Other companies to be sold are Bauxilum (bauxite and aluminum), Venalum (aluminum), Minorca (minerals) and Minerven (gold).

All the companies are located in the south-eastern zone of Guyana, near the Guri hydroelectric plant, which the government decided to retain.

Gruber declined to say how much the companies might sell for, but Minister of Investments, Carlos Bernardez, has estimated that total income from all of the privatisations planned for 1995 should reach four billion dollars.

Of that amount, at least 2.3 billion dollars will depend on the sale of the State's holdings in the CANTV telephone company, and the sale of the Platacento thermoelectric plant, valued at 800,000 dollars last year.

The plan to privatise the Guyana Corporation must now beapproved by Congress, which on Wednesday voted to call for the firing of the company's president.

Gruber is accused by Eduardo Roche, Comptroller of the Republic, and Andres Velasquez, Governor of the state of Bolivar, of having made illegal contracts with the government for a business he owned when he was president of Palmaven, the state-run fertilizer company.

Velasquez also accused Gruber of pushing for the privatisation of the Minerva gold mine in order to personally benefit in own mining interests, and of placing his business partner, Jose Arata, on the board of the Guyana Corporation.

Gruber responded that he felt "insulted, as both a public official and a citizen," by the accusations, and that "there continues to be interest from foreign investors to participin the sale of the the Guyana Corporation businesses.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service