WB-aided power project in East China
June 26, 1997 The World Bank-Financed Beilun Thermal Power Plant in east China's Zhejiang Province has finished all
the necessary earthwork for its second-phase construction. Installation of the third coal-burning generator and steel
structures for the workshop started recently, and the installation of the fourth and another workshop will begin in
August, according to an engineer in charge of the construction.
Located in the Beilun District of the city of Ningbo, the Beilun Thermal Power Plant is China's first thermal power
project that is financed by World Bank loans for construction. Major equipment needed for this project will be put on
public bidding.
The plant, with an area of 105 hectares, is to be installed with five 600 MW coal-burning generators. The entire
project will be completed in two stages.
For the first-phase construction which lasted from January of 1988 to October of 1994, the plant was installed with
two generators, at a cost of 5.55 billion yuan (about $ 668.67 million), of which, $ 395 million was covered up by WB
loans. It has generated 23.9 billion kWh of electricity thus far.
The engineer told that they would install the remaining three generators in the second-stage construction which will
entail 12.218 billion yuan (about $ 1.472 billion ), $ 482 million of which will be met by a loan provided by
WB.
According to schedule, the second-stage construction will be completed by the year 2001. The third generator will be
connected to the East China Power Grid and become operational in March of 1999. By then, the power plant will have a
combined generating capacity of 3000 MW and will be able to generate 20 billion kWh of electricity per year. ||Thai
economy not reviving yetJune 26, 1997 Thailand's economy is not reviving because domestic financial institutions are
still cautious over granting loans to the private sector, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) said recently. ''The signs of
economic recovery are still unclear. Some sectors have shown a fair revival, but financial institutions are not yet
ready to grant loans to the private sector as we had anticipated,'' said Kleothong Hetrakul, a spokeswoman for the
central bank. She said the tight monetary climate is expected to gradually change as the central bank plans to
announce an action plan for financial firms which will enable smoother mergers, allow ailing firms to restructure and
boost liquidity in the monetary market.
Manufacturing production growth in April was stated at 5.4 %, down from 6.4 % a month earlier as manufacturing in the
food, tobacco, and automobile sectors declined due to poor domestic demand, according to the central bank's
statistics.
Imports of capital goods totalled 306,481 billion baht ($ 11,787 bn) during the first four months of this year, only
0.1 % growth from the same period last year, according to the official data.
Thai exports declined 13 % to 110.3 billion baht ($ 4.2 bn) in April from 126.9 billion baht in March. Imports
increased 1.48 % to 151.3 billion baht ($ 5.8 bn) in April from149.1 billion baht a month earlier.
Data also showed a deterioration in Thailand's external accounts. The trade deficit will rise 85 % to 41 billion baht
($ 1.6 bn) in April, up from 22.2 billion baht in March, while the current account deficit is forecast to widen 139 %
to 38.0 billion baht ($ 1.5 bn) in April from 15.9 billion baht in March.
The central bank also estimated that the country's official foreign reserves will remain at only 33.3 billion dollars
as of May this year, a decline of 13.4 % from $ 37.3 bn in April, said Kleothong. The reserves are equivalent to 5.8
months of imports.