Cost of constructing Balkhash thermal power plant to be defined by spring 2014

By the spring of 2014 Kazakhstan will have defined the cost of constructing the Balkhash thermal power plant, Newskaz.ru reports, citing the country’s Vice Minister of Industry and New Technology Bakhytzhan Dzhaksylykov as saying in Seoul. “Kazakhstan’s state-run Samruk-Energo holds 25%, with Samsung/KEPCO holding the other 75%. The authorized capital stands at 30% of the project, with the other 70% being borrowed funds. The ultimate cost of the project will define the share of borrowed funds”, he said on the official visit of a Kazakh delegation headed by the PM Serik Akhmetov to South Korea, adding the draft design and estimate documents have been submitted for government expert examination. “We believe the examination will be completed by the spring of 2014 (…) the Ministry is working on the formula to calculate prices for the power to be generated by the power plant”, he said, elaborating that sources to borrow funds from haven’t been defined so far. The estimated cost of the project is about $4 billion. Tengrinews.kz reported earlier that the design capacity of the power plant is 2 640 megawatt. The facility will be located on the south-west shore of the Balkhash Lake close to Ekibastuz coal mine. The project is carried out by South Korea’s Samsung and the Kazakhstan’s Samruk - Energo. Samruk Energo is responsible for 40% of all power generated in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak launched construction of the Balkhash thermal power plant mid-September 2012.