The infrastructure development export package includes construction, management and operation of the plant, as well as procurement of funds. The plant will be built in Rojana Industrial Park in central Thailand.
The plant will be built using Mitsubishi’s latest power generation equipment and will be managed by a company that Electric Power Development will take a 90 percent stake in. It will have a capacity of 1,600 megawatts and is set to start operating from 2015.
The cost of the project is expected to be about 1.2 billion dollars (96 billion yen). Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Asian Development Bank and four Thai banks will extend loans for the project.
Power demand in Thailand is expected to increase by an average of 4.13 percent annually until 2030. Thailand’s electricity authority plans to buy the power generated at the plant for 25 years.
The industrial park was flooded last year, severely damaging local bases of Japanese firms including Honda Motor Co. and Nikon Corp. With about 7,000 Japanese businesses believed to be operating in the country, the project also aims to provide a stable electricity supply to those companies.
The Japanese government considers the packaged infrastructure export as a pillar of the national growth strategy that can harness Japan’s technological prowess.
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T121025003336.htm
