South Korea and Laos agree to work on hydropower project
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn and his Lao counterpart, Thongsing Thammavong, agreed Monday to work closely on a hydro-power project in the Southeast Asian country, a South Korean official said.
The two sides had planned to sign a deal on the development of Sepon III hydro-power plant at their meeting, though they failed to ink the deal due to differences.
The two sides remain at odds over which country will build a road leading up to the power plant, among other things.
Still, Hwang and Thammavong said they hope that the sides will quickly sign a deal on the project, according to the South Korean official. A key part of the project is an exclusive development right on the hydro-power plant.
South Korea’s state-run water resources company K-Water is pushing to win the project to build a power plant capable of generating 47 mega watts of energy in a tributary in the Mekong River.
The proposed deal calls for K-water to build the power plant by 2020 and operate it for 27 years before transferring it to Laos. Currently, Laos operates 14 hydro-power plants and plans to build 61 other hydro-power plants.
Also Monday, South Korea and Laos signed a deal on Seoul’s provision of US$9.1 million to Vientiane for free to help support information technology in Laos. South Korea also agreed to provide Laos with a loan worth $300 million.
The loan will come from the state-run Economic Development Cooperation Fund that was launched in 1987 to help development in emerging countries. (Yonhap)