EVN Proposes Stopping New Licenses for BOT Power Projects

The Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) recently asked the government to limit permits to foreign investors to build power plants under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) form, a senior official said.

 

Foreign investors can pump capital into electricity projects under the independent power plant (IPP) form or in others, said CEO Dao Van Hung.

 

Vietnam licensed three BOT power projects, including Phu My 2.2 and Phu My 3 operated in 2004 and Mong Duong thermo power.

 

Vietnamese authorities said that foreign investors applied applications for at least ten BOT power projects.

 

Earlier, Ta Van Huong, Director of the Oil and Gas Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry, said BOT power projects should be given to foreigners, and IPP projects to domestic investors.

 

EVN has announced its plan joining hands with seven Vietnamese influential companies to set up its power trading joint stock company, a single buyer, with estimated registered capital of VND1 trillion (US$62.5 million) in 2007, as a move to build a competitive power generation market.

 

The plan is still under discussion, raising a lot of protests by concerned agencies, including the World Bank in Vietnam. (Investment)