Competitive bidding expected as registration opens for northern power grid

Competitive bidding expected as registration opens for northern power grid

Electricite du Laos (EDL) expects to open the registration process for Korean construction companies to participate in the auction for works on the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Northern Power Transmission Project this week.

“Currently we are now waiting for the commendation from the financial supporter, the Korean Exim Bank, for the bidding document,” the Deputy Project Manager, Mr Khamsao Hansana, said yesterday.

“There will not be a limit to the number of companies on the registration, however there will be only one company selected,” Mr Khamsao said, adding that local construction companies can have subcontracts with the winner.

The winner will develop a phase of the project for which the Lao government received a loan from the Korean Exim Bank.

Mr Khamsao said US$37.88 million was made available from the Korean Exim Bank on July 21, 2010.

“The debt repayment period will be from 2025 to 2045,” he said.

The project's development phase will include the construction of a 115kV transmission line from Paklai substation in Paklai district, Xayaboury province, to the Xayaboury substation, a distance of 122.74km.

The construction of a 115kV transmission line from Namor substation in Oudomxay province to Bounneua substat ion in Phongsaly province which will be 102.40km long, and the 115kV transmission line construction from Paklai substation to the Lao-Thai border, 74.6km long.

Other development includes the 115/22kV Bounneua substation construction and transformers installation, and the 115kV substation expansion in Oudomxay's Namor district.

Almost 2000km of 22kV electricity transmission lines will power thousands of households in villages in these provinces.

The total cost of the GMS Northern Power Transmission Project is about 523 billion kip (US$65 million). It's a co-financed development project funded by EDL, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Korean Exim Bank, according to the project's weekly report.

The ADB funded about 160 billion kip (US$20 million) for the project's development, while the remaining US$7.4m is at EDL's own cost.

EDL will find out which company undertakes the work in the part of the project funded by the ADB this week.

The project is expected to be finished in 2015, and will assist the government in meeting its target of electrifying 90 percent of all households by 2020.

vientiane times