The Nation / 31 March 1998  
Laos power project starts up  

   BANGKOK, March 31 -- The newest hydro-power project for 
Laos, to be inaugurated on Saturday, will sell 95 per cent 
of its electricity to Thailand over the next 25 years.
   The 210-megawatt Theun-Hinboun scheme in the Central 
Highlands will generate an estimated US$1 billion for the 
cash-strapped country. Laos, one of the poorest countries 
in Asia with few natural resources, hopes the Theun-Hinboun 
project will increase its gross domestic product by 7 per 
cent a year.
   With the 25-year agreement, signed in June last year, 
the scheme will provide the Electricity Generating 
Authority of Thailand with an inexpensive source of power.
   The US$260 million project, formulated and partly-
financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was seen as 
significant because it was the first time Laos's socialist 
government had entered a joint venture with the private 
sector, including commercial banks.
   The ADB said the venture also marked a milestone in the 
promotion of economic cooperation between the six countries 
in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region.
   The Theun-Hinboun Power Company, 60 per cent owned by 
the Laos government and 40 per cent shared equally between 
GMS Power and Nordic Hydropower, will run the project on a 
30-year BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis.