Laos seeks new investors for 4 Saravan hydropower projects

Saravan provincial authorities will cancel four of nine planned small-scale hydropower plant projects due to lack of progress for almost 18 months after investors signed an MoU with the government.

The four projects are Houay Rai, Houay Saloung, Houay Namsay 2 and Houay Namsay 3.

“We sent three proposal letters to them and asked for the project report, but there has not been any answer or contact with them,” said Saravan provincial Energy Section Head Mr Sangthong Inthapakdy about the investors.

The plants would have generating capacities between 2 and 5 megawatts each if they are developed and “will represent an investment of about 24 billion kip per megawatt,” Mr Sangthong added.

Provincial authorities will offer the four projects to other investors if they are interested. “However, we will have to inspect the companies’ capacities, including funds and experience,” he said.

Two of the nine projects, Houay Kapeu 2 and Houay La-ai, which are also being built by local developers, are progressing well.

The investors submit project studies and report on the progress of work to the provincial authorities regularly, including rain surveys, reservoir levels and necessary construction activities at the project site such as building a powerhouse.

The two projects, which will have generating capacities of 3.5 to 5MW, are within the MOU period now, “However, the investors will sign Project Development Agreements (PDAs) with the appropriate provincial sectors soon,” he said.

The remaining three projects – Houay Kapeu1, Xeset Banbaeng and Houay Por – are also progressing well and developers have recently signed PDAs with the province. The plants will have installed capacity of 5MW each and are funded by local investors.

The National Consulting Group signed a PDA for the Houay Por hydropower plant last week and the group will start construction by the end of this year and complete the project in 2015, with an investment of about 134 billion kip or US$16.7 million.

The plant will sell power to Electricite du Laos for distribution through the national power grid.