Dow Jones & Company Inc.
Yahoo Finance (Singapore)
October 13, 2004

The World Bank is likely to finalize its decision on providing financial support to the $1.2 billion Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos by the end of this year, a senior official at Thailand’s Energy Ministry said Wednesday. Bangkok (Dow Jones): Viraphol  Jiraprasitkul, deputy director-general at the Energy Policy & Planning Office, said the World Bank would soon consider offering a financial guarantee for the project, following five workshops aimed at easing reactions against the construction of the dam.

“The result on the World Bank’s financial support is expected to be known within this year,” Viraphol said.However, Kimberly Versak, head of World Bank’s External Affairs for
Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, told Dow Jones Newswires that the World Bank hasn’t yet made any decision on the issue and no timeframe is set for making such decision.

“The bank is still in the process of due diligence on project preparation . . . and finalizing the safeguard documents to reflect inputs from the recent round of local consultations and international workshops. These activities are time intensive and it’s premature to
suggest a date for a World Bank decision of support for this project,” Versak said.

The decision will be made by the Bank’s board of executive directors, she added.

The project has been on the drawing board for decades, but won international support only recently, due to environmental concerns.The Nam Theun 2 hydropower project will generate 1,070 megawatts of electricity, 95% of which will be sold to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, under a power purchase agreement
signed last year.

EGAT will buy at least 920 megawatts from the 1,070-MW project at THB1.64 baht a kilowatt-hour starting in 2009 for 25 years, Viraphol said.

The electricity charge of the project is cheaper than if EGAT were to build its own power plants, said Viraphol.The project will help strengthen the country’s electricity security
and enhance Thailand’s role as the energy hub in the region, he added.

A consortium led by Electricite de France (EDF.YY), which includes Electricite de Laos, Thailand’s Electricity Generating PCL (EGCOMP.TH) – affiliated with EGAT – and Italian-Thai Development PCL (ITD.TH), will build the plant in cooperation with the Lao
government.

The developers will finance 30% of the project, provided that international donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank guarantee commercial loans to finance the remainder of the cost.