China Development Bank provides $100 million buyer’s credit loan for Phase 1 of 489MW Thaketa Gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant Construction Project

On November 14, 2014, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy and Union Resources and Engineering Co., Ltd (UREC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) regarding the 489MW Thaketa Gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant Construction Project. Then, on September 22, 2015, U-Energy Thaketa Power Company Limited (U-Energy Thaketa Power Co. Ltd.) — a joint venture of Myanmar’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Yunnan Province Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd (YEIG), and Union Resources and Engineering Co., Ltd (UREC) — signed a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract with the Government of Myanmar for the 489MW Thaketa Gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant Construction Project. U-Energy Thaketa Power Company Limited was granted a 30-year concession to build, operate, and transfer the 489MW Thaketa Gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant. Approximately six months later, on March 20, 2016, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and U-Energy Thaketa Power Company Limited signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Land Lease Agreement (LLA) for the 489MW Thaketa Gas-fired Combined Cycle Power Plant Construction Project. The purpose of the project is to construct a 489 combined cycle power plant in Thaketa township, 16 km east of Yangon and 25.6 km away from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. The project is being implemented in two phases: 106MW for Phase 1 and 380MW for Phase 2. The total cost of Phase 1 is $129 million. China Development Bank reportedly issued a $100 million buyer’s credit loan to U-Energy Thaketa Power Company Limited to support the implementation of Phase 1. A sub-sovereign guarantee was reportedly issued by the Ministry of Electricity of Myanmar in support of the loan. The borrower also purchased a credit insurance policy from Sinosure. The borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to partially finance a $129 million EPC contract with SEPCO3 (Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation III or SEPCO III), which was signed on March 13, 2016. SEPCO3 was the EPC contractor responsible for project implementation. The project officially commenced on May 12, 2016. Civil works excavation began on December 9, 2016. The power plant successfully achieved reverse power transmission on October 9, 2017. The power plant’s turbine generator was connected to the national grid on January 6, 2018. The project was officially reached completion on March 17, 2018. A final acceptance certificate (FAC) was issued on March 23, 2020. Upon completion, Phase 1 was expected to meet the electricity needs of more than 42,000 households.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 缅甸仰光达吉达燃气蒸汽联合循环电站土建工程 or 缅甸仰光THAKETA天然气联合循环电厂项目 or 缅甸仰光达吉达燃气蒸汽联合循环电站. 2. The China Development Bank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020. 3. Some sources suggest that Phase 1 was financed with a supplier’s credit (and/or export seller’s credit) rather than a buyer’s credit. This issue warrants further investigation

Number of official sources

29

Number of total sources

38