Wednesday March 12, 2008
NUNTAWUN POLKUAMDEE
Bangkok Post
"NIMBY is an acronym for Not In My Back Yard. The term is used to describe opposition to a new project by residents, even if they themselves and those around will benefit from the construction. Often, the new project being opposed is generally considered a benefit for many, but residents nearby the immediate location consider it undesirable and would generally prefer the building to be "elsewhere".A coalition led by Dragon One Plc (D1), 124 Communication and foreign investors expects to generate returns of seven billion baht over the next two years from its new coal-fired power plant in Pailin, Cambodia. Jrarat Pingclasai, the D1 chief executive, said the project, worth around $500 million or 20 billion baht, would produce 350 megawatts of coal-fired power.
Projects likely to be opposed include: incinerators, power plants, and prisons, but far more commonly the concept is associated with obstruction and objections to transportation improvements and mobile telephone network masts." - Wikipedia
D1 and 124 will take 20% each in the project, with the remaining 60% held by an international energy company.
The initial investment if the project is 2.8 billion baht, with revenues expected at seven billion baht per year. Power will be sold to the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand under a 25-year contract.
Mr Jrarat said the Cambodian government would offer the consortium a 99-year lease for the project at a relatively low cost.
D1 will invest in the project through its new Dragon Power subsidiary. Mr Jrarat said D1 expected to receive steady revenues of 1.4 billion baht per year from the project.
He said D1 was also studying the possibility of setting up an industrial business zone in Pailin on some of the 10,000 rai of land to be leased from the Cambodian government for the power plant.
''Thai manufacturers who are looking to shift production plants to other countries should consider the Dragon Pailin [industrial zone] project, given that it is only 300 kilometres from Bangkok,'' Mr Jrarat said.
''The Cambodian government also currently offers better options for foreign investment than the Thai Board of Investment.''
Mr Jrarat said Dragon Pailin would require an initial investment of 500 million baht, and would leverage infrastructure to be built to support the Dragon Power plant.
Revenues could reach 10 billion baht per year for the industrial zone project within three years.
Mr Jrarat said that for holding company D1, revenues by 2010 would come equally from three segments: Dragon Power, Dragon Pailin and IT services.
D1 is projecting investment this year of 200 million baht, to be financed from rights offerings and warrants. Mr Jrarat is the largest single shareholder at 18%.
The company reported 2007 net losses of 138 million baht on revenues of 430.77 million, down from profits of 59.84 million on revenues of 667.13 million the year before.
Shares of D1 closed yesterday on the SET at 0.68 baht, down three satang, in trade worth 4.63 million baht.
