UOB finances gas engines for new power plant in Yangon

UNITED Overseas Bank (UOB) has announced a financing agreement with Singapore-based Royal GK to provide electricity to Myanmar.

Royal GK, an engineering procurement and construction company, was commissioned by the Myanmar Central Power Co (MCPC) to procure gas engines for the construction of a gas-fired electricity power plant in Hlawga, Yangon.

MCPC has an agreement with the Ministry of Electric Power to own and operate the power plant.

UOB's managing director and head of group strategy and international management, Ian Wong, said UOB's business approach for Myanmar is to partner its clients in investing in industries that the country deems necessary to support its long-term economic growth.

"As Myanmar has prioritised the provision of power in the creation of new industries and job opportunities for the country, we are keen to finance companies such as Royal GK to help support the infrastructural needs of the country's economic transformation," he said.

The power plant is expected to start producing 175,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year when it is completed in June this year.

The financing agreement with Royal GK adds to the list of companies that UOB has financed to provide electricity to Myanmar. In 2014, UOB financed Singapore-based Asiatech Energy in building a combined cycle gas-fired power plant in Mon State, Myanmar.

UOB has also partnered US-based APR Energy in its construction of a 100- megawatt power plant in the Mandalay region of Myanmar.

The bank is one of nine foreign banks which received a foreign bank licence from the Central Bank of Myanmar in October last year.