$70m from India for power

Monday, September 3rd, 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

India is financing the construction of a US$70 million transmission line to bring electricity from hydroelectric projects in Laos to Cambodia, according to Indian Chamber of Commerce President Debasish Pattnaik.

Speaking yesterday after the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (ICC), Pattnaik said Laos has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the transmission lines from Laos to Stueng Trang and the $70 million soft loan from the Indian government would finance the line from Stueng Trang to Kratie.

He said the transmission lines from Kratie to Phnom Penh were already in place.

Tenders for the construction of the project by local contractors would be called by the Indian government in October, Pattnaik said.

Work to start on Lao-Cambodian power line

Mon, April 21, 2008
Asia News Network/Vientiane Times

VIENTIANE--The installation of 115kV transmission lines between Laos and Cambodia will begin by the end of this year, giving Laos a new electricity export market, said a project official.

The power lines will run for 26km, from Hat village in Khong district, Champassak province, to the border, where they will connect with a 54km line from Cambodia .

"The total cost of the Ban Hat Lao-Cambodian 115kV Transmission Lines and Ban Hat Substation Extension Project will be about 23 billion kip (US$2.6 million)," said Project Manager Khamsing Phosalath on Thursday.

Funding was loaned to Electricite du Laos by the government for the installation, as part of grant aid received from the World Bank.

"The installation is expected to be completed by the end of next year," said Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Somboun Rasasombath at the annual meeting of the energy and mining sectors recently in Vientiane .

The project is now seeking tenders for the work and has been advertising for bidders for the last two months.

"A few companies are interested and we will make an announcement of the winning bidder in June," Mr Khamsing said.

The project will allow the sale of hydropower from Champassak province to Siem Pang district in Stung Treng province, Cambodia .

"Transmission is expected to begin by 2010. The initial supply will be about 5MW but it may be increased as needed," Mr Somboun said.

Laos and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on energy purchase in December last year. This was the initial move for the sale of Lao electricity to Cambodia , and an important step in the cooperation of the two energy sectors.

But the two governments have yet to agree on how many megawatts Laos will sell to Cambodia and over what period of time.

Currently Laos has MoUs to provide 5,000MW to Thailand until 2015, and a further 2,000MW after this date until 2020. Vietnam has also agreed to purchase 5,000MW of electricity from now until 2020.

Laos has a combined energy production capacity of about 670MW from 11 major and 40 medium-sized hydropower plants, which generate power for both domestic consumption and export.

By 2020, the Lao energy sector hopes to have an installation capacity of 30,000MW from dams currently under construction or planned along the Mekong River and its tributaries. This goal may be achieved now that more investors are conducting studies at several places in the country.

This is fundamental to the Lao government's intention, announced at the 10 th Asean Summit in 2004 in Vientiane , to become the 'battery of the region'.

Cambodia to get 7 mln usd loan for transmission line to import electricity - ADB

01.31.08

BANGALORE (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will provide a 7 mln usd loan without government guarantee to Cambodia for building transmission lines to import electricity from Thailand, including to the tourism hub of Siem Reap, and the growing cities of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey where there have been power shortages.

The bank said the move will be a boost for the economy of northwest Cambodia, not just in tourism but also in agriculture, services and manufacturing.

ADB's financial assistance is being made to the (Cambodia) Power Transmission Lines Co Ltd (CPTL), a private Cambodian company.

The bank's assistance will go toward the estimated 34 mln total project cost and the balance of the funding is being provided through equity and loans from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Gramercy Advisors/Arco Capital Management Family of Funds.

The 115-kilovolt power lines will connect with Thailands national grid at the border and will then run about 221 kilometre into Cambodia, to Siem Reap, home to the famed Angkor Wat temple, and Battambang, an important agricultural centre.

In addition to connecting the major towns, the new lines will also provide opportunities to wire rural communities along the route, ADB said.

The high-voltage grid lines will be the first to be privately owned in the Greater Mekong Subregion. It is also the first ADB private sector infrastructure project in Cambodia.

World Bank Grants $70M in Cambodia Aid [to import electricity from Laos and Vietnam]

08.14.07
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The World Bank said Tuesday it will give US$70 million (euro51.3 million) to Cambodia to help reduce its widespread poverty in a package that includes a plan to import cheap electricity from the country's neighbors.

Some US$18.5 million (euro13.5 million) will be used to build cross-border transmission lines to Laos and Vietnam to import electricity to Cambodia, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. The project is expected to be completed by August 2011, it said.

The new power lines will connect Kampong Cham province in the east with Vietnam, and Stung Treng province in the northeast with Laos, the bank said in June. The two provinces now have some of highest electricity rates in the world.

Customers in the provinces pay up to US$.30 (euro.22) per kilowatt-hour of electricity. The tariffs are expected to drop to between US$.10 (euro.07) to US$.15 (euro.11) per kilowatt-hour once the transmission lines are operational, the bank said.

The remaining money in the aid package will be used for projects supporting development of the private sector, public financial management, good governance, natural resource management and decentralization of local government, the statement said.

The funds will help "build stronger institutions of governance that will lead to higher growth and faster poverty reduction," Ian Porter, the bank's country director for Cambodia, said in the statement.

Cambodia has achieved double-digit economic growth during the last three years but still remains one of the world's poorest nations.

Donors in June pledged US$689 million (euro501 million) in aid for Cambodia after rapping the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen for failure to combat corruption. The World Bank statement did not say whether the new aid is part of the earlier pledge.

Fraud and corruption in the procurement process led the World Bank in June 2006 to freeze US$7.6 million (euro5.6 million) in funding for several projects in Cambodia. Hun Sen angrily said there was no proof of wrongdoing.

Early this year, the bank lifted the suspensions after it agreed with the government on new frameworks for improving implementation of the projects.

Chinese companies launch two power projects in Cambodia

April 08, 2007

Chinese companies here on Saturday launched two power projects in Cambodia, the Stung Atay hydropower plant and a set of electricity transmission network.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Governor of China's Yunnan Province Qin Guangrong, who is leading a delegation to visit Cambodia, unveiled the foundation stones of the two projects during a ceremony hold in Phnom Penh.

The hydropower plant costs 190 million U.S. dollars and can generate 465 million kilowatt-hour of electricity per year, according to a press release from the Chinese companies.

The power transmission network is constructed at the cost of 113 million U.S. dollars to connect Phnom Penh, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang, it added.

China Yunnan Corporation for International Techno-Economic Cooperation and Yunnan Southeast-Asia Economy and Technology Investment Industrial Co., LTD. undertake the construction and development of both projects, the press release said, adding that the Cambodian government adopts BOT pattern (build, operate and transfer) for the projects.

Currently, Cambodia does not have the infrastructure to generate enough electricity to fuel the galloping demand, which has been rising 15 to 20 percent per year, according to Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Source: Xinhua