Chile: the balanced view : a recopilation of articles about the Allende years and after

average national investment projected for the eight-year periodo As shown in Chart 3, the total investment is $ 902.6 miJlion in local currency and $ 340.5 millíon in foreigh curren- , cies.(1) . In addition to hydroelectricity, coal and petroleum are two major sources of primary energy that could be developed on a medium-term basis in Chile. However, we do not believe that more immediate consideration Can be given in the near future to potential power sources in the geothermal energy that is'being explored in,the Tatio and the coal in the region of the Straits of Magellan, a systematic study of which has recently been undertaken. b) Coal At present coal is mined chiefly in the Arauco area. TM most importa!')t mines are extremely deep, underwater, very far from the coas!. and thinly veined. Because of these difficulties, production has declined, despitepast efforts lo modernize the industry. . The decrease in production is reflected in the following figures: 1969 1,703,914 1970 1,509,775 1971 1,622,913 1972 1,427,673 1973 1,363,000 For 1974, the management of the National Coal Corporation set the goal of increasing production by 300,000 tons. Because ofthis goal, the corporation must be able to rely at the right moment on the necessary credits in both national and foreign currencies, in order to operate with adequate spare parts and working capital. Credits in foreign currency should be at least $ 10 million. In the present energy crisis, an increase of 300,000 tons in coal productión equals 200',000 tons of petroleum (1.4 million barreis). This represents savings of between $ 15 million and $ 24 million in foreign currency, alevel that would be extremely advantageous to attain. For medium-term development ENACAR(the National Coal Corporation) has propo– sed and expansion program that would increase its production in 1982 by:1.5 million tons over the 1973 leve!. The program would make a valuable contribution to meeting the increased consumption of fuels anticipated between now and 1982. The projected in– crease in coal tonnage equals 1 million tons of petroleum.Assuming a price of only US$ 6-8 per barrel, this represents savings 01 $ 40-48 million. The total investment would be $ 80 million,more than half of it in local currency. This program should be carefully examined on its merits, so that a decision may be reached even now, when the future of fuels is unpredictable: The decision on ENACAR's expansion program is independent of the decision to undertake immediately a more detailed survey of thelarge deposits in the region of the Straits of Magellan, one of which has been shown to have a potential res.erve of 3.5 to 5 billion tons. The total cost of the survey will be approximately US~ 4 mili ion. e) Petroleum and gas Because there have been no new developments in this important area of the national economy, its conditions has gradually deteriorated, as was established in Chart 11-19 oftne report on the country's economic condition. The mos! relevan! figures for the present study of the program for Chilean economic development are given below: (1)ln 1974 thé total power installed in the country will reach 2,593,000 kW. The program is consideríng the instaliation 01 a capacity 01 2,211 ,000 kW by 1981. representing a cumulative annual growth 01 8 percent. This ís a modest figure. considering the stagnatíon in the development of electric power duríng the last three years, 225