EXIM Thailand and China, Japan banks to loan Bt10.5bn for BCPG energy projects
The state-owned Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand) today signed a joint agreement to finance hydroelectric power plants in Laos with Bt5.41 billion in loans. The agreement was signed with Thailand’s BCPG Plc (the plants’ developer) and the Industrial and the Commercial Bank of China (Thai) (ICBC Thai).
EXIM Thailand said the deal falls under the Thai government’s policy to promote trade and investment connectivity between Thailand and its neighbouring countries, and also the Laotian government policy to promote the country as the “Battery of Asia”.
Meanwhile, EXIM Thailand and Mitsui Trust Bank (Thai) (SMTBT) also signed an agreement to loan Bt1.9 billion (6,465.07 million yen) to support the Chiba 1 solar power plant project in Japan.
Under the first of these two agreements, EXIM Thailand is collaborating with BCPG to fund development of the Nam San 3A and Nam San 3B hydroelectric power dams with a combined generating capacity of 114MW in Laos. The projects and a 500MW transmission line are being built under a power-purchase agreement with Vietnam, which will buy electricity from the dams.
The second agreement is part of EXIM Thailand’s solar power plant financing scheme worth about Bt6.15 billion (21,188.22 million yen) in addition to another two solar farm projects – the Komagane and Yabuki, with a total capacity of 87MW – under an MOU with SMTBT and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Japan. The solar financing pacts aid Thai business investment in Japan.
