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284km transmission line to power development in central Laos
Electricite du Laos (EDL) hosted an inauguration ceremony for the Pakxon-Pakbo 155 kV transmission project in Borikhamxay province after two and half years of construction.
EDL is the owner of the US$45 million project, while the contractor is the Consortium of Corporation and J-Power System Corporation, EDL Director Khammany Inthilath said.
The project was funded by a Japanese Official Development Assistance loan via the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) worth about US$40 million with an annual interest rate of 0.9 percent and a loan period of 30 years, including a grace period of 10 years. EDL's contribution was US$5 million.
The project involved installing a 284km transmission line from the Pakxon substation in Borikhamxay province to the Pakbo substation in Savannakhet province through Khammuan province.
The double circuit transmission line has a high thermal-resistant conductor and is 240mm in width. It is supported by 790 steel poles and passes through three substations in Pakxon, Thakhek and Pakbo.
The line passes through communities in Borikhamxay, Khammuan and Savannakhet provinces, and falls under the strategic framework of electric power development for 2007-2016.
The new line will be a substitute for the transmission line that imports electricity from Thailand, supplying power to the three central provinces and enhancing their socio-economic development, Mr Khammany said.
The line was installed in two sections. The first section was installed from Pakxon to Thakhek over a distance of 187km and was finished on May 7, 2011. The second section, from Thakhek to Pakbo, was finished on May 23, 2010. Now the two lines have been connected up.
“ This inauguration cere-mony celebrates the fact that this major transmission line is not only a significant part of the strategic framework for electricity for 2007-2016, but is also an important contribution to the socio-economic development of the country, and the improvement of people's livelihoods in these three provinces,” Mr Khammany said.
Minister of Energy and Mines Soulivong Dalavong said EDL was an ongoing player in putting in place electricity programmes and projects as identified in the national strategic framework.
“I highly appreciate that these great efforts and successes are an important and fundamental contribution to national industrialisation and modernisation, in line with the Party's renovation policies and the Resolution of the Ninth Party Congress, he said.
JICA chief representative Masato Togawa said the Japanese government also provided assistance to the Nam Ngum 1 hydropower project in 1974 and the Nam Leuk hydropower project in 1996.
The Greater Mekong Power Network Development project is aimed at meeting the gro wing demand for power in the south-central region by building and upgrading 115 kV transmission lines and substations in the 300km section between Pakxon and Savannakhet, Mr Togawa said.
This boosts the rate of electrification, industrial deve-lopment and poverty reduction in the region.
vientiane times
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