China Eximbank provides $47.1 million loan for 18MW Kirirom III Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#32080)

On February 6, 2008, the Government of Cambodia and CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and wholly-owned subsidiary of China Electric Power Technology Import-Export Corp. (CETIC) — signed an implementation agreement for the 18MW Kirirom III Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. On the same day, Électricité du Cambodge (EDC) and CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). CETIC is a subsidiary of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). Under these two agreements, CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. was granted a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) concession and the Government of Cambodia provided a guarantee to CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. that it would purchase any power produced by the Kirirom III plant in the event of non-payment by EDC. In order to facilitate the implementation of the $66.53 million project, China Eximbank reportedly issued a loan worth $47.1 million to CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd. in 2008. The purpose of the project was to install two additional 9MW power generation units at the existing Kirirom Hydroelectric Power Plant (‘Kirirom I’) in Koh Kong Province. CETIC constructed Kirirom I with an earlier loan from China Eximbank (captured in linked ProjectID#32080). A feasibility study for the 18MW Kirirom III Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project was completed in 2004. Construction started on March 5, 2009, and the expanded power plant was put into operation on April 24, 2012. The plant was officially inaugurated on February 23, 2013. Upon completion, the power plant was capable of generating 78 million kilowatt-hours each year. However, this project was plagued by scandal after its completion. Chen Chun Lin, a Chinese accountant for CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., was sentenced to more than four years in jail in early 2016 for embezzling nearly $2 million from his employer by writing and depositing company checks and then withdrawing the funds for personal use. Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced him to 4.5 years in jail on charges of ‘breach of special trust by administrators’. Mr. Chen Chun Lin was ordered to repay the $1.93 million he stole from the CETIC International Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., and pay approximately $50,000 in damages. During his trial, Chen Chun Lin confessed to secretly writing 52 checks over the course of 2015 and then proceeding to withdraw money from a company bank account once the checks were cleared. When the judge asked him how he used the money, he replied: “I used it for gambling. I subsequently spent it all in gambling since early 2015”. Chen Chun Lin was imprisoned on December 26, 2015. Tip Janvibol, the lawyer representing CETIC, said Chen Chun Lin had worked for the company for six years and that he was in charge of managing all the company’s funds.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Development of Kirirom Extension Phase II Hydroelectric BOT Project and the 2×9MW Kirirom III Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. The Chinese project title is 基里隆3号水电站 or 基里隆3号水电站基里隆3 号水电站项目 or 开发的基里隆3号水电站 or 基里隆Ⅲ号水电站大坝. 2. In the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020, it identified the Government of Cambodia as the borrower of the China Eximbank loan that supported this project. However, this project was implemented as an Independent Power Project (IPP) and as such it is a near certainty that CETIC International Hy­dro­power Development Co. Ltd. was the borrower.

Number of official sources

10

Number of total sources

27