Laos strengthens energy policy and planning
Laos strengthens energy policy and planning
Japan is helping Laos to improve its mechanism of power production and supply planning, aiming to secure sufficient energy to meet the country's growing needs.
Officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Energy and Mines' Energy Policy and Planning Department met in Vientiane yesterday to review implementation of the project and create a future road map for cooperation.
The JICA-funded Project for Improvement of the Governance Mechanism for Sustainable Power Development Planning, which was launched in the middle of last year, aims to assist the Energy and Planning Department to formulate a comprehensive, accurate and reliable power development plan.
One of the objectives is to forecast power demand in Laos and neighbouring countries. This will provide important data to help the department determine a power production and supply plan. Energy investors also need this data so they can make investment decisions.
The project will also help the department to identify problems with the present mechanism for power facility development, especially by Independent Power Producers (IPP), and propose appropriate governance and management solutions to secure efficiency, accountability and sustainability.
One of the main tasks is to help the department to assess the present capacity of the organisations involved and propose appropriate institutional management measures which will effectively promote the governance mechanism.
According to officials, the project will play a key role in the cooperation programme to improve policies, laws, regulations and coordination procedures, and improve the effectiveness and transparency of the procedures of power development by IPPs.
It will also help to mobilise resources with preferential conditions such as grants and concessional loans for facility development. The project will enhance power development planning capacity, which is regarded as a fundamental function of power sector administration.
The project started in June 2012 and runs until May 2013, and includes four surveys.
Lao and Japanese officials increasingly recognise the importance of strengthening, and making more effective, the governance mechanism for power facility development in Laos, where independent power producers continue to play a major role.
They also recognise that enhancing the governance mechanism will help secure the power supply necessary to realise socio-economic progress and manage the country's precious natural resources in a sustainable manner.
Sustainable power development is also considered key to economic stability as power exports are expected to contribute significantly to the Lao economy in the foreseeable future. Enhancing the effectiveness of governance capability in power facility development is therefore an urgent issue to be tackled in this sector, they said.
vientiane times
