Vietnam to conclude power plant construction talks next week
HANOI - Vietnam looks set to complete negotiations with foreign investors next week on the construction of two
power plants - Phu My 3 and Phu My 2-2, an official at Electricity of Vietnam, or EVN, told Dow Jones Newswires
Thursday.
BP Amoco Plc (BP) and Norway's Den Norsk Stats Oljeskap A/S (Y.DNS), or Statoil, are involved in negotiations to build
the over-$300 million Phu My 3 plant, which will have a generating capacity of 700 megawatts, said the official, who is
responsible for the build-operate-transfer projects under EVN.
"According to a decision approved by Deputy PM Nguyen Tan Dung, EVN will buy electricity from Phu My 3 at 4.09 cents
per kilowatt-hour," he said.
"We are also completing negotiations to build Phu My 2-2, with an installed capacity of over 700 MW. This project is
expected to be developed by France's Electricite De France (F.EDF), or EDF, and Japan's Sumitomo Corp. (J.SUT)," he
said.
"These two plants will use gas supplied by the Nam Con Son project and other gas fields, including Bach Ho (White Tiger),
Rang Dong and Ruby," he said.
In a separate move, the official said the Vietnamese government approved Wednesday a plan to build another power plant, the
450-MW Phu My 4, at a cost of $242 million.
"We have agreed in principle to build this plant using domestic capital. However, its construction will be delayed. We want to
see Phu My 2-2 and Phu My 3 be constructed first," he said.
"Depending on power demand, we will build Phu My 4 at a later time," he said.
These three plants are part of Vietnam's largest power complex - the 3,600-MW Phu My complex - which includes four plants
in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau.
The 720-MW Phu My 1 plant is already in operation.
The decision to build these big power projects were made after Vietnam signed contracts to build the Nam Con Son project
last month.
Vietnam's electricity consumption is projected to grow at a rate of 11%-12% to 2005, according to government estimates.
Dow Jones - January 4, 2001.
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