|
SBV ensures credit for power projects
The governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has required State-owned commercial banks loan capital for important power generation projects if the banks think those projects are feasible.
Under the new directive, the governor instructed commercial banks to urgently appraise credit for power generation projects, especially loans to Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN).
Loans for the Ban Chat hydro-power project should be approved if the banks appraise it as feasible. Banks should use new power prices, which when introduced early next year are expected to be roughly 20 per cent higher than current levels, to assess feasibility, said the Governor.
Appraisal of the Ban Chat project should also be applied for the Huoi Quang power project if EVN fails to get low interest loans from the Agency for French Development.
According to EVN, SBV’s guidance for State-owned commercial banks to loan capital for urgent power generation projects is aimed at meeting a recent instruction of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, which required EVN to determine priority projects slated to be put into operation in 2008-2010 so that commercial banks could actively prepare credit for the projects.
SBV has so far pledged to take measures to remove credit difficulties faced by important power projects, to be able to have the projects put into operation as scheduled.
EVN said that it would need a total of more than VND832 trillion (US$51 billion) to build power generation projects between 2008 and 2015.
Viet Nam’s power demand is expected to grow 16 per cent annually until 2015, according to EVN estimates.
VNN
|
