Communique by LNCE

Communiqué by LNCE

Government of lao pdr signs US$ 100 million financing agreements for its participation in Nam Theun 2

Vientiane , 26 April 2005 -- The Government of the Lao PDR, represented by the Ministry of Finance, has today signed in Vientiane a series of financing documents for loans and grants in excess of US$ 100 million for its participation in the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric Project.

The loan portion includes US$ 20 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and US$ 55 million from the European Development Bank (EIB).

The grant portion includes Euro 5 million from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and US$ 20 million from the International Development Agency (IDA).

The Government will subsequently retrocede these financial resources to the Lao Holding State Enterprise (LHSE), a company fully owned by the Government that replaces Electricité du Laos (EDL) as the 25% Government shareholder in the Nam Theun 2 Power Company Limited ( NTPC ). Other shareholders in NTPC are:

• 35% - EDF International (EDFI), a subsidiary of E lectricité de France

• 25% - Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO) of Thailand

• 15% - Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited (ITD) of Thailand

In addition to the above equity financing agreements, the Government signed two counter-indemnity agreements with both the ADB and the IDA for the provision of up to US$ 100 million of risk guarantees by these two institutions to a group of nine international commercial banks involved in the provision of US$ senior debt facilities to NTPC .

The total base Project cost is US$ 1,250 million, with an additional contingent financing of US$ 200 million that brings the total financing sources required for the Project to US$ 1,450 million.

The completion of the full Project financing is expected by the end of April for the full construction activities to begin in May. The beginning of commercial operations will occur four and a half year later, in late 2009.

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For more information about the Nam Theun 2 Project, please visit:

LNCE : http://www.poweringprogress.org NTPC : http://www.namtheun2.com