Lao energy investor's dividends surge
Lao energy investor's dividends surge
The state-owned Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE), a major energy developer, received dividends amounting to about 57.4 billion kip (US$7 million) of dividend from Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower plant in the first six months of this year.
General Manager of the enterprise Dr Somboune Manolom reported on Tuesday that the 57.4 billion kip is about 55.5 percent of the plan.
Speaking at the enterprise's six monthly meeting in Vientiane to review operations over the past months, Dr Somboune said the earning of US$7 million included over US$1.88 million that the LHSE had paid or contributed to national revenue.
The contribution of US$1.88 million to government coffers was comprised of dividend tax of about US$700,000 and profit tax of more than US$1 million.
“We also paid for a debt of over US$2.46 million,” Dr Somboune said.
The enterprise took a loan from the government to invest in NT2 after the government received a loan from international financial institutions.
From 2011 until now, the enterprise has received total dividends of more than 862.75 billion kip (US$105.21 million) from NT2, according to a report from the enterprise.
Dr Somboune said that NT2 generated energy totalling more than 2,883 GWh of electricity in the first six months of this year and sold that to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), equating to about 51.15 percent of the plan; the export had a value of over 1 trillion kip (US$124.97 million).
He added that NT2 also generated electricity of 153GWh for supply to Electricite du Laos (EDL), which was about 51 percent of the plan and worth over 52.12 billion kip (US$6.35 million).
The Nam Thuen 2, located in Khammuan province, is a large power plant project in Laos. It has an installed capacity of 1,070 megawatts with investment amounting to US$1.297 billion.
The Nam Theun 2 Power Company Limited (NTPC) was formed by the Lao government and private shareholders to build and operate the NT2 project for the first 25 years.
NTPC's shareholders are Electricité de France with a 40 percent stake, LHSE with 25 percent and the Electricity Generating Public Company Limited of Thailand with 35 percent.
LHSE was created by the Lao government in February 2005 to facilitate investment in energy generation. Its first investment was the NT2 dam.
LHSE is now a shareholder in four power plant projects that have a total installed capacity of 3,658 megawatts (MW) and an investment cost of around 55.97 trillion kip (US$6.996 billion), including US$539.86 million invested by LHSE.
It holds a 25 percent stake in NT2, 24 percent in Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noi, 25 percent in Nam Ngiep 1 and 20 percent in the Hongsa Mine-Mouth Power Project.
The government is promoting the rapid development of power plants for local supply in a bid to cut electricity imports.
Twenty-seven power plants are currently operational in Laos with a combined installed capacity of 3,304MW.
Laos is aiming for a total installed capacity of about 12,000MW by 2025, a report from the Ministry of Energy and Mines states.
The abundant resources of the Mekong River and its tributaries give Laos the potential to produce more than 25,000MW of electricity.
