Laos has a plan to transform itself to become the battery of ASEAN by 2020 and so rid itself of the status of least developed country.
?According to a government estimate it would be selling 7,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power to Thailand by 2015 and 5,000 megawatts to Vietnam by 2020,? said Mr Saypaseuth Phopsoupha, Director of Energy Promotion and Development of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
?The purpose of the production and sale of such a high volume of electricity is to earn millions of US dollars and put them into the coffer of the country,? added Mr Saypaseuth.
He also said that the electricity would come from a slew of hydropower dams nationwide, like Nam Thuen 2,
This plan was reviewed at an annual meeting of Ministry of Energy and Mines in Luang Prabang province, last week.
Mr Saypaseuth said that if all the hydropower electricity development projects of the government came on stream and on schedule, the revenue they would generate would get the country out of the least developed country status by 2020.
Many hydropower projects were under the construction and feasibility studies were carried out on quite a few, such as Nam Ngum 2, Nam Lik 1-2 and Sekaman 3.
?Nam Thuen 2 is a good pilot project and it would come on stream at the end of the year,? Mr Saypaseuth confirmed.
The Nam Lik 1-2 and Sekaman 3 hydropower construction projects would commence to generate electricity by 2010 and Nam Ngum 2 would be operational by 2011.