January 1950, Luis Mariano Ospina Pérez Government

In the Republic of Colombia the land was blessed with large rivers and natural water reserves all across the country. President Pérez realised that the waterways of Colombia could be utilised to provide power to the population much more efficiently than the currently coal based electric system. President Pérez with these thoughts has established a Hydroelectric Grant Scheme to provide funds to construction and electrical companies for them to invest into creating hydroelectric power.

At the start of 1950, hydrological studies were carried out on the Porce River regarding the river's hydroelectric development. The study recommended the five projects, Porce I, Porce II, Porce III, Porce IV and Ermitaño. These five projects were all suggested locations for new dam projects to be established. Over January, the feasibility report for Porce III was submitted and complementary studies were completed that reinforced that Porce III was the only suitable project location for a semi-large hydroelectric dam. The feasibility report also has scheduled the minimum viable product of the project to 1952, but fully realised completion will not be until 1953.

The Porce III Dam is a 151 metres tall and 426 metres long concrete-face rock-fill type embankment dam. Its base width is about 400 metres and it has a fill volume of 4,155,000 cubic metres. The dam's spillway is a chute-type and is located on its left side. It is controlled by four radial gates and has a maximum discharge of 10,850 cubic metres per second. The reservoir created by the dam has a 170,000,000 cubic metres capacity of which 127,000,000 cubic metres is active capacity. The reservoir has a surface area of 4.6 square kilometres. The catchment area for the dam and reservoir is 3,756 square kilometres. A submerged intake on the reservoir's left bank conducts water to the power station initially via a 12-metre long and 10.2-metre diameter upper headrace tunnel. At the terminus of this short tunnel, the water drops 149 metres vertical shaft to the lower headrace tunnel which has the same diameter of the upper but is 304 metres long. At the end of the lower headrace, it converts into four penstocks to supply each of the underground power house's 211 megawatts Francis turbines with water. Once ejected from the power plant, it enters over 1,000 metres of tailrace tunneling and is returned to the Porce River.

The first stage of building Porce III will cost in the ranges of $850,000-$1.1 million Colombian Pesos (1.05 pesos = 1 dollar circa 1950) and will utilise these funds until the second stage in 1952. The owner of the new Porce III Dam will be a nationalised government company under the Ministry of Energy and Electricity and will have a semi-privatised Board of Directors who make up 35% of company ownership.

[Milestone: ELECTRIFICATION - 1/??]