Project to Build Power Lines for Electricity Exports to China Valued at $6 Bln

Mar 2, 2007 - Daily News Bulletin

Moscow : The Federal Grid Company (FSK) values the construction of electric power lines under a project to export Russian electricity to China at some $6 billion.

"The construction is estimated at plus-minus $6 billion," member of the FSK executive board and capital construction director Alexei Maslov said at a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.

"If the project is launched its budget will be reflected in the price at which China will buy electricity," he said. "If this [electricity supplies] is economically expedient - judging from an estimate - spending on the grids will be reflected in the proceeds," he said. The FSK, which will manage the construction and operation of the power lines, will be able to draw outside funding, or get resources directly from the operator of the project, which is a party to the contract with China, Maslov said.

But the project is still in the making, and estimates of the investment required at each stage of the project have not been completed, said Maslov.