THÁI BÌNH — A lack of capital has made the Thái Bình 2 Thermal Power Plant fall behind schedule to pay credit loans even as the deadline approaches, reported Vietnam Finance newspaper.

Petro Vietnam (PVN), the project’s main investor, plans to release bonds as a possible solution.

The Thái Bình 2 Thermal Power Plant project includes two machine units with a designed capacity of 1,200MW. The project has an investment of nearly VNĐ41.8 trillion (US$1.8 billion) and is featured in the list of emergency electricity power projects issued in 2013 by former Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng.

The project is expected to provide 6.7 billion kWh of electricity to the national power grid per year, for which it will consume an estimated three to 3.5 million tonnes of coal.

The disbursement values of the project during its start in 2011 and its completion in 2017 were some VNĐ10 trillion ($440 million) and VNĐ29.3 trillion ($1.3 billion), respectively.

Regarding foreign loans, PVN, in its latest report to the government, said the total loans signed were valued at $937 million. Until now, $432 million have been disbursed while $81 million of the original debt have been paid. The remaining $505 million are yet to be allocated.

According to PVN, the final disbursement deadline mentioned in the contract is September 28, 2018, which was based on the completion of the project’s two machine units. Decision No. 428 on the national electricity development plan during 2011-20 approved by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in 2016 says the Thái Bình 2 Thermal Power Plant will put machine unit No. 1 and No. 2 in operation in 2017 and 2018, respectively. However, PVN asked to extend the deadline to June 2019 for machine unit No. 1 and September 2019 for the other. The proposal is yet unapproved.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently issued a debt reminder document for the disbursement of loans to credit institutions by September 2018. MoF said since it did not allow the extension of loan contracts after September 28, PVN had no choice but to find an alternative.

PVN said it would be a huge challenge for the company to allocate capital without government guarantee. To solve the crisis, PVN has proposed releasing bonds valued at VNĐ10 trillion to related agencies. — VNS