Two North American companies will build a power plant in Battambang town providing a temporary solution to the area’s electricity needs, a government official said Thursday.
Canadian-based Jupiter International Resources and the US construction giant Caterpillar Power Ventures International said they would invest more than $1 million to build a 3.5 megawatt plant in the northwestern province by late December 1998.
The plant will be only temporary until the British-based Anglo-Cambodia Holdings completes an earlier agreement to build a larger, permanent complex, said Ith Praing, secretary of state for the Ministry of Industry.
“Anglo has to start work to build a power plant. [But] it doesn’t take a short time,” Ith Praing said. “So during the interim period we have to find a solution. [Battambang residents and businesses] are in need of power.”
Ith Praing later added: “If Anglo goes with the project, then Jupiter has to close. If Anglo doesn’t, then Jupiter can continue until a new agreement is signed.”
Anglo-Cambodia signed a 20-year contract in early 1997 to provide two new power plants. Since then, construction has been delayed while the government privatizes sections of its power system, according to the company.
Thierry de Roland Peel, joint managing director of Anglo Cambodia Holdings, said the company is waiting for control of the province’s power department to be transferred from the ministry to Electricite du Cambodge, which he said is expected in about six weeks.
“I can understand why they might wish to have some temporary source of power, but in the end it will be canceled,” de Roland Peel said of the Jupiter pact.
A Jupiter representative in Cambodia confirmed the company’s plans to build a plant but declined comment. It was unclear from the company’s press statement if the joint venture viewed its investment as temporary.
Ith Praing said the Ministry of Industry allowed Jupiter and Caterpillar to enter into the agreement directly with Battambang’s provincial government. He said the development may be an effort to pressure Anglo-Cambodia into hurrying up its project.
“We want Anglo to start work and build the power plant as soon as possible, but that is the problem with these kind of projects: they delay, delay, delay,” Ith Praing said.
The Jupiter press release also said the Jupiter-Caterpillar joint venture plans to compete for the development of other small power generation projects in Cambodia and Indonesia.
