External Power Supply Project of the Lao Section of the Laos-China Railway Kicks Off

Guests attend the groundbreaking ceremony -held on December 30 - for the external power supply project of Laos section of the Laos-China Railway.

Vientiane, Laos - A groundbreaking ceremony was held here to honor the vibrant and consistent power supplies that are being provided by China Southern Power Grid for the Laos-China Railway.

China Southern Power Grid senior managers were on hand for this important ceremony to support the reliable power supplies the Company has - and will continue to supply - to the project, ensuring that the Laos-China Railway will open to business and leisure traffic in 2021.

Among the invited guests for the groundbreaking event included:

·Mr. Thongpa Engthammvong, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Energy and Mines of Lao PDR

·Mr. Boun Oum Syvanpheng, Managing Director of EDL

·Mr. Chen Yunpeng, Vice President of CSG

·Mr. Ding Xingzhong, Director of Energy Administration of Yunnan Province, and other guests from both countries attended the ceremony.

Under the project, 268-kilometer-long 115 kV transmission lines with 11 transmission line bays will be built to connect the 10 new traction substations to the power grid in Laos through the Lao section of the railway. The transmission lines from north to south will cross four provinces, Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, Louangphabang and Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.

As the first power gird BOT project in Laos, the external power supply project of Laos section of the Laos-China Railway has generated substantial attention from all spectrums of the international community as this time-sensitive project promotes the infrastructure connectivity between China and Laos which has been a landmark project to support the Belt and Road Initiative and the shared development future of the Sino-Laos community.

TIMETABLE

·On April 30, 2019, in the presence of Chinese and Lao leaders, Mr. Meng Zhenping, Board Chairman of CSG and Mr. Boun Oum, Managing Director of EDL, inked a “Shareholders Agreement between CSG and EDL on Power Supply Project for the Laos-China Railway”.

·On November 8, 2019, the Laos-China Power Investment Company was founded and responsible for the investment, construction, operation and maintenance of power supplies for the Laos-China Railway.