Rio Bravo Project Summary Of Project Information (SPI)      Project Name:   Mexico:  Rio Bravo    Region:Latin America and Caribbean   Sector:   Project No:009557   Projected Board Date:August 2, 1999   Company Name:Central Rio Bravo S. A. de C. V.   Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders    	Electricity de France International, S. A.    Project Cost Including Proposed IFC Investment    	US$224 million. IFC''s investment will comprise US$50 million in "A" Loan, US$110 million in "B" Loan and US$5 million in "C" Loan.    Location of Project and Description of Site    Rio Bravo site is located near the municipality of Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, approximately 30 kilometres from the City of Matamoros, Mexico, and 23 KM from the US-Mexican border.    Description of Company and Purpose of Project    	Electricite de France International S.A. (EDFI), the Project sponsor, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricite de France (EDF), the French government owned utility. Established in 1992, EDFI is EDFs investment arm outside France for power generation, transport and distribution. EDFI assets are currently estimated at US$4.8 billion equivalent.       	The purpose of the project is to design, construction, own and operate a 495 MW base load  power plant.  The Project configuration includes two Westinghouse 501 F combustion turbine generators (CGT) each rated at 180 MW (ISO), a recovery steam generator ("HRSG") and a 160 MW steam turbine generator. The proposed technology (501F Westinghouse gas turbines) is considered an advanced technology with high thermal efficiency of about 55%. The plant output will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad under 25-year power purchase agreement which is based on an annual plant load factor of 80%.       Environmental Category and Issues    	This is a category A project under IFCs environmental review procedures.  Environmental and social issues associated with this project include:  air emissions and air quality impacts, noise from plant operation, water supply and availability, liquid effluents, transboundary environmental issues, construction of associated facilities (gas pipeline, transmission line, etc.), fire protection and emergency response, general workplace safety, and economic dislocation caused by land acquisition for the power plant or associated facilities. The sponsor prepared an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that addresses these issues and demonstrates that the project will comply with the Government of Mexico and World Bank environmental requirements. The EIA also includes documentation on the results of a comprehensive public consultation program.  The EIA has been released in-country and to the World Bank InfoShop.     The  is  from the Public Information Center.     Host country location of environmental documents:    Mexico    Date SPI sent to InfoShop:July 1, 1999   This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporations Board of Directors.  It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFCs activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.    For Additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit -   telephone: (202) 473-7711   facsimile: (202) 974-4384  Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).