South Korean builder SK Engineering and Construction and state-run Korean Western Power have won a $1.0 billion deal to build and operate a hydropower plant in Laos, an official said on Tuesday.
Under the deal with the Laotian government, SK Construction will build three dams and a hydropower plant at the Mekong River in the southern plateau of Bolaven by 2018, an SK Construction spokesman told AFP.
The Xe-Namnoy plant — with an estimated capacity of 410 megawatts — will be owned and managed by Korean Western Power until 2045, after which it will be taken over by the Laotian authorities, he said.
The electricity generated at the plant will mostly be sold to Thailand while the Laos will earn an estimated 33 billion won ($30 million) annually in taxes and other fees, he added.
Ratch plant wins Laos concession
Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Co Ltd (PNPC), 25%-owned by Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc, has been granted a concession from the Laotian government, the SET-listed Ratch said yesterday.
Thailand’s largest private power producer also expects PNPC to sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) by year-end.
Noppol Milinthanggoon, Ratch’s chief executive, said the 27-year concession deal has been signed for a 410-megawatt Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric power plant to be developed and run.
The concession will be effective from the commercial operation date (COD) in 2018.
“PNPC will thereafter put its best effort into a conclusion of the PPA with Egat by the end of 2012,” Mr Noppol said.
Construction is expected to start in 2013 and electricity generation in 2018.
Located in Laos’s Champasak province, the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy project is being developed under the cooperation scheme between Thailand and Laos.
PNPC, a joint venture of Ratch, SK Engineering and Construction, Korea Western Power and Lao Holding State Enterprise, was established in March to develop the 32-billion-baht power plant.
Ratch will allocate internal cash of 2.4 billion baht to fund the project.
Shares of RATCH closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 53 baht, up one baht, in trade worth 26.9 million baht.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/317959/ratch-plant-wins-laos-concession
