Endesa Colombia said on Thursday it is ready to finance part of the $700 million investment to construct the country's El Quimbo hydroelectric plant, but is still waiting for an environmental permit from the government.

Lucio Rubio, director of Endesa in Colombia, told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit the company would fund 20 percent of the investment and the rest could come from local banks and lenders such as the InterAmerican Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation and debt issues.

"We have various possibilities to structure the financing of the project," Rubio said.

Endesa Colombia, Colombia's largest local energy generator, is an affiliate of Spain's Endesa (ELE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), controlled by the Italian company Enel (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). It generated about 23.7 percent of the country's electric energy in 2008.

Construction work is expected to start this year on El Quimbo, which is located in the southwestern Huila province and the project will be the first hydroelectric operation built by the private sector in Colombia.

Rubio said Endesa expects to invest around $313 million in Colombia this year in current energy generation and distribution businesses, which supply more than 2.5 million clients in the Andean country.