Leader to start power project in Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

By DAVID TAN

davidtan@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: Leader Universal Holdings Bhd will embark on a US$107mil power transmission project in Cambodia next month, said group managing director Datuk Sean H’ng Chun Hsiang.

He told StarBiz that construction work for the first phase of the project would kick off immediately after Chinese New Year.

Leader, through its subsidiary Cambodian Transmission Ltd, inked the deal for the project with state-owned power company Electricite du Cambodge (EDC) yesterday, which commissioned the group to build a 230-kv power transmission system from North Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham on a build-operate-transfer basis.

Datuk Sean H’ng Chung Hsiang ... ‘Bank loans are now in place.’

Under the agreement, Leader will build, manage and maintain the transmission line for 25 years before returning it to the government.

“Under the agreement, Leader will build two substations and a power transmission line in three phases,” H’ng said.

He said the first phase, involving the construction of a substation in Kampong Cham, was scheduled for completion in July 2011 while the construction of the North Phnom Penh substation under the second phase was slated to be completed by March 2012.

“The final phase, which involves the commissioning of the 110-km transmission line from the North Phnom Penh substation to the Kampong Cham substation, will be completed in December 2013,” he said.

Leader would fund the project with internally generated funds and bank borrowings, he said, adding that the bank loans “are now in place.”

The master plan for power generation in Cambodia allowed a four-fold increase in installed capacity over the next five years, according to H’ng.

“The forecast for the power load in Cambodia is that it will grow to 2,315MW in 2024 from 740MW in 2010, which is a more than a three-fold increase within 14 years, growing at a 8.5% per year growth rate,” he said.

On Leader’s 100MW coal-fired power project in Sihanoukville, H’ng said the project should be operational in 2012.

“We have a 30-year build-own-operate concession to supply electricity to EDC,” he said.