Power plant seeks investors

17:03' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Tan Tao Group (ITA Group) is seeking investors to join in a 7.7 billion USD project to build the 4,400MW Kien Luong Thermal Power Centre and Nam Du deep-sea port complex in the southern province of Kien Giang .
On April 8, the group signed contracts with US-based Black & Veatch , China ’s FHDI Engineering Co, Ltd and Vietnam ’s Power Engineering Consulting Co No 2 to provide consulting and assist in the call for capital.
“The capital requirements for this project are enormous,” said ITA Group deputy director Nguyen Tuan Minh. “As the key investor, we will contribute 20 percent of total capital for the project. The rest will be mobilised from foreign investors as well as from domestic investors through the issuance of stocks and bonds.”
Construction of the 6.7 billion USD power plant and 1 billion USD port would begin in the last quarter of next year, said Minh.
“The coal-fired thermal power centre is expected to start generating electricity in 2013 at a capacity of 1,200 MW,” he said. “The full capacity will be met in 2016.”
The port complex, including the Nam Du and Kien Luong ports, would be built to serve the power plant, facilitating delivery of coal imported from Australia and Indonesia . “We plan to import 10 million tonnes of coal annually from Indonesia and Australia to run the thermal power centre,” Minh said.
The electricity generated by the Kien Luong Thermal Power Centre would be sold to ITA Group industrial zones and Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Thirty percent of initial capacity is committed to the industrial zones, while the amount of power to be purchased by EVN was still in negotiation, Minh said.
Kien Luong Thermal Power Centre would become the largest thermal power project authorised by the Prime Minister to a privately-owned company. The project was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in January.
ITA Group has operated for more than 11 years developing infrastructure and industrial zones in Vietnam and has 20 member companies working in a number of fields.