Sinohydro Corporation has sealed a deal to build a $2-billion hydropower station in Ecuador, the latest overseas mega contract for the China's largest hydropower plant builder.

The contract is likely to be signed in Ecuador's capital city Quito on Sept 23, said an official with Sinohydro who declined to be named. He added that Ecuador's President Rafael Correa might attend the signing ceremony and hence the event could be changed in accordance with his agenda.

The signing of the deal had been postponed several times due to discussions on the contract price. The finalized contract price of the turnkey project is around $2 billion, including design, construction and equipment.

The Export-Import Bank of China, a major policy bank in China, has agreed to finance the project, according to Sinohydro.

A statement released earlier by Ecuador government said 85 percent of the $2-billion project will be financed through a Chinese bank and the remaining 15 percent will be funded by Ecuador and Argentina.

Sinohydro's subsidiary Sinohydro Bureau 14 Co Ltd, based in Yunnan province, will undertake the 1,500-mW plant.

Ecuador President Rafael Correa said recently that the planned Coca Codo Sinclair (CCS) project is expected to generate 8.8 billion kWh electricity a year after construction, covering 75 percent of the country's energy demand and largely relieving the country out of energy shortage.

Ecuador has been troubled by power shortages. The country spent roughly $26.9 million on importing electricity from Colombia in 2008, according to a report issued by the National Center for Energy Control in January.

The CCS project on the Amazon River is 75 km east of Quito. It will serve as the largest hydropower base and the biggest investment in the South American country.

Correa said China would also invest in other projects like railway and refinery construction.

China's ambassador to Ecuador Cai Runguo said Chinese companies and banks are interested in cooperation with Ecuador on other hydropower projects.

In August, Sinohydro signed a contract to build two hydropower stations and a power transmission line in Laos cumulatively worth around $559 million.

Since the 1980s, Sinohydro has carried out extensive engineering contracting constructions as well as economic and technological cooperation, undertaking more than 50 percent of the world's hydropower projects.

By the end of October 2008, the company had 171 projects realized or under construction in 42 countries with a contracted price of more than $11 billion.

(China Daily, Xinhua September 17, 2009)