A concession agreement for the Nam NgumII project was signed by the government of the Lao PDR and the ShlapakGroup Co, Ltd on March 17 at the Lao Hotel Plaza. Signing for the government was the Minister to the Prime Minister's Office and Secretary General ofthe Committee for Foreign Investment Management and Economic co-operationMr. Bountiem Phissamay and for the private company was company president,Mr. Shlapak.

The signing of the concession agreementsignals a continuation of the technical design and research on the after-effectsto the environment as well as the methods to solve them. Negotiations andsigning of the electric sales contract with Thailand will take about oneyear, following which a project concession agreement will be signed andconstruction of the dam started.

The Nam Ngum II project is located in theNam Ngum river north of the Nam Ngum Dam I, about 90 km north of Vientiane, in the Saysomboun Special Zone. The dam is 181 meters high with a 615 megawattcapacity and can produce 2300kw/h of electric power. The project callsfor an investment of US$ 780 million and will take four years to construct.The area of the water basin is about 86 square kilometers.

This project is a joint venture between the government of the Lao PDR (25 %) and the Shlapak Group Co, Ltd (75%).The Group includes Shlapak Development Co (USA), Bilfiger Berger Company(Germany), CH Karnchang Company (Thailand), Voith Hydro Company (Germany),Siemens Company (Germany), Noell Company (Germany), and Sri U-thong (Thailand).