Italian-Thai to 'Renegotiate' After Myanmar Scraps Coal Plant

The company has yet to receive a formal notice from Myanmar, after media reports this week said the government rejected plans for a 4,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant, said Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of the Dawei Development Co., an Italian-Thai unit. The company’s November agreement with Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl to build the plant remains unaffected, he said.

The government’s decision “only means we have to renegotiate the source of fuel,” Somchet said in an interview in Bangkok yesterday. “With Ratchaburi, the intention was to use coal. If we change the source of supply, Ratchaburi has to sit down and recalculate.”

Italian-Thai plans to secure financing and woo companies to invest in a deepsea port and industrial estate located in Myanmar on the Indian Ocean about 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Bangkok. Myanmar’s 11-month-old government, whose democratic reforms have prompted the U.S. and Europe to reassess sanctions, has canceled two power-plant projects in the past six months because of environmental concerns.