Odebrecht is building the San Francisco hydro scheme, located downstream of the existing Agoyan power plant, on the left bank of the Pastaza river, on the border between Tungurahua and Pastaza provinces in central Ecuador. The project will make use of water discharged from the Agoyan power plant and diverted from the Verde river. Interconnection is made through a 60 m-long tunnel linking to an underground interconnecting chamber, from which a 11.3 km-long 7 m-diameter headrace tunnel will connect to a surge tank. Before reaching the surge tank, the penstock tunnel divides in two vertical stretches, with the upper concrete-lined section connecting with the surge tank and the lower steel-lined stretch connecting with the two generators in the 230 MW underground power house. The water will be discharged into the Pastaza river through a low pressure tunnel. Conelec, the national electricity authority, awarded the contract in March 2000 to Hidropastaza, a joint company controlled by Hidro Agoyan (80%) and Odebrecht (20%). The concession company will build the project under a 30-year BOT concession agreement for USD306 million. Construction to take five years. As of March, 2005 the underground powerhouse has been excavated. The tunnel will be excavated by a 7 m-diameter Wirth double shield TBM, which will be operated by SELI under the supervision of Odebrecht. Visit www.odebrecht.com, www.wirth-europe.com and www.selitunnel.com 10/05.