CONSORTIUM OF MITSUI, GS ENGINEERING TO MODERNIZE YEREVAN HEAT AND POWER PLANT
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
November 26, 2007 Monday 10:38 AM MSK
A consortium of Mitsui & Co and GS Engineering & Construction
Corporation Friday was named the general contractor to modernize
the Yerevan Heat and Power Plant under a loan from the Japan Bank
for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Armenian government press
service said.
The government approved a proposal to ask the Japanese government
for an additional loan to build a combined cycle block at the Yerevan
plant.
A source at the Armenian Energy Ministry declined to disclose the
amount of additional funds.
The construction will begin in February 2008 and should be completed in
28 months. A new 205-megawatt combined cycle block will be built that
will produce 1.4 billion – 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity
a year. The plant has capacity of 550 megawatts but only 50 megawatts
is utilized. Most of the capacity is not used due to the high cost
of producing electricity.
The project will be financed with a loan from JBIC for 15.9 billion
yen ($150 million) under an agreement signed in Yerevan in March 2005.
The loan was provided with government guarantees for 40 years at 0.75%
annually with a grace period of 10 years.