Attending the meeting, on the EVNNPT side, there were leaders and officers
of the departments: Finance and Accounting, International Relations, General affairs,
Corporate Planning and Investment Management; from BNP Paribas, there were Mr. Charles
Lataillade, Export Credit Director of Asia Pacific, and Mr. Noboru Wantanabe,
Director of Export Credit and Project Finance in Japan together with leaders
and staff of Hanoi branch BNP Paribas.
BNP Paribas Bank is one of the leading Asian
banks in export credit operation. It has been operating in Vietnam since the
1990s, has funded a number of development projects in Vietnam with a total
funding of up to Billions of US dollars in various sectors, areas such as
electricity, oil and gas, petroleum, transportation.
For the power sector, BNP Paribas has arranged
some projects of Viet Nam Electricity (EVN) such as Song Tranh, Song Bung, Lai
Chau hydro power plants, Duyen Hai Thermal-power plant, etc… In the
cooperation with EVNNPT, BNP Paribas
has arranged a USD 170 million credit under NEXI's un-tie foreign-funded
insurance program with the guarantee of
the Ministry of Finance for the 500kV Vinh Tan – Song May – Uyen Hung branch transmission
line. Currently, the loan arrangement procedures have been completed. It has
now disbursed about USD 20 million with the disbursement deadline by November
30th 2018.
At this meeting, BNP Paribas would like to
continue cooperating with EVNNPT,
especially in arranging capital for the 500 kV Van Phong power thermal plant -
Vinh Tan power thermal plant transmission line. This project is considered a special
energy project of Group A which is expected to start in the third quarter of
2018 with the total investment of 2,800 billion VND, 80% of which is loan. The
project has a large scale with a total length of 172.5 km passing through three
provinces: Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. The 500 kV Van Phong power
thermal plant - Vinh Tan power thermal plant transmission line will ensure the
transfer of capacity from the Van Phong Power Center, Bac Ai hydro Power storage
plant to the southern load center (total capacity of 1,920 MW) and create a
strong link between the central and southern power systems, which is an
important basis for the safe, reliable, stable and optimal operation of the
power system.
As proposed by BNP Paribas, the loan for this
project is also covered by NEXI's untie foreign-funded insurance program, but
there will be no guarantee from the Ministry of Finance. Instead, Vietinbank
will act as the Borrower from BNP Paribas and provide the loan to the final
borrower is EVNNPT. Due to
differences in loan structure and parties involved in the capital arrangement
process, all loan conditions and terms for the 500 kV Van Phong power thermal
plant - Vinh Tan power thermal plant transmission line are somewhat tighter as
compared to the previous loan for the 500kV Vinh Tan - Song May - Tan Uyen
transmission line. Explaining to the difference in the interest rate and cost between
the two loans, Mr. Wantanabe emphasized that BNP Paribas would have to
coordinate with many other banks in Japan to provide the loan due to high risk while
lacking of guarantee from the Ministry of Finance.
After the proposal presentation of BNP Paribas,
Chairman Dang Phan Tuong highly
appreciated the close cooperation between the two sides in the process of
arranging the capital of USD 170 million for the project of 500 kV Vinh Tan -
Song May - Tan Uyen branch transmission line. He also hoped that BNP Paribas
and Vietinbank could discuss further to set more competitive cost and interest
rates for EVNNPT, accelerating the
arrangement of capital to ensure the 500 kV Van Phong power thermal plant -
Vinh Tan power thermal plant transmission line may commence on schedule by the
third quarter of 2018. Chairman Dang Phan Tuong especially emphasized that if
successful, this loan will be the first non-government guaranteed loan in the
history operation of the Vietnam Electricity, marked the right direction in
accordance with the policy of reducing public debt through the reduction of
government guaranteed loans.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Charles
Lataillade affirmed his desire to cooperate with EVNNPT and committed to facilitate at the most favorable conditions
for successful transaction of the loan for the project of 500 kV Van Phong
power thermal plant - Vinh Tan power thermal plant transmission line./.