Marubeni Ink $106M Pact;build coal power plant
HANOI - State-owned Vietnam Coal Corp., or Vinacoal, Friday signed a US$106 million
contract with a consortium led by Japan's Marubeni Corp. (J.MRB) to build a 100-megawatt coal-fired
power plant in Na Duong district in the northern province of Lang Son, a Vinacoal official said.
Vinacoal will use its own funds to pay for the Na Duong plant. Construction will start early next month, Le
Tri Hung, director of Vinacoal's international relations department, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Marubeni and state-owned Vietnam Machinery Installation Corp., or Lilama, will build the plant and then
transfer it to Vinacoal. The plant's first, 50-MW generator set will become operational after 24 months of
construction, and the second generator set will start operating three months after that, he said.
Vinacoal will operate the plant, selling electricity to Electricity of Vietnam, or EVN, at a price of 4.2 U.S.
cents a kilowatt hour, he said.
"This is a temporarily agreed price between Vinacoal and EVN," he noted.
Vinacoal has also agreed in principle to contract with a Chinese company to construct another 100-MW
coal-fired power plant, the Cao Ngan plant, which will be built in 2003 in the northern province of Thai
Nguyen.
"The Chinese company will get the contract because it will provide us with soft loans to build the Cao
Ngan plant," he said.
Vinacoal is also preparing to build a 300-MW coal-fired power plant in Cam Pha district, Quang Ninh
province, in 2005 but an exact date for the construction of this plant hasn't been finalized, he added.
Power consumption has been fast rising in Vietnam in recent years. It grew 12.7% in 2000 and 15.0% in
2001, government figures show.
Dow Jones Newswires - March 08, 2002.
|