The government has suggested that Laos finance the Nam Theun II hydropower project by raising capital through the Asia Bond.

Dr Phrommin Lertsuridej, the energy minister, said all the parties would like to see the hydropower project completed on schedule.

“We suggested the government of Laos raise the money by issuing the Asia Bond and acquire the loan from China Development Bank,” he said.

The government of Laos should not have any trouble raising the money, because the project was viable, and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) had guaranteed power purchase over 25 years.

The Nam Theun II project ran into a snag after state-owned Electricite de France said it would withdraw its 35 per cent stake. This left the US$1.1 billion project, which would sell
electricity to Thailand, in limbo.

The government assigned Sitthiporn Ratanophas, the governor of Egat, and Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai to help seek the financing resources for the project.

Phrommin said the hydropower project was important because it was a cooperation between Thailand and Lao.

The joint venture partners of Nam Theun II are Electricity Generating Plc (25 per cent), Electricity de France (35 per cent), Laos government (25 per cent) and Italian-Thai Development Plc (15 per cent). Electricity de France in July said it would withdraw from the project by the end of the year.

Power companies from Norway and Japan are interested in taking over. The project will have a capacity of 920 megawatts and deliver 5,636 million units of electricity to Egat annually. A transmission line of 500 kilovolts will be built to handle the delivery to Thailand. Egat will buy the power at Bt1.64 per unit.