KRASNOYARSK, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russian state-owned energy monopoly RAO UES Rossii and aluminum producer Rusal will set up a company on a parity basis to complete the construction of the Boguchanskaya hydropower plant (HPP) in Siberia.
"On June 29, RAO UES and Rusal signed a memorandum of intent, which provides for the establishment of a special company," said Vyacheslav Sinyugin, the chairman of the board of directors of RAO UES' subsidiary HydroOGK.
He added that the company would own a 90% stake in the Boguchanskaya HPP.
According to Sinyugin, the project will be 30-50% financed from the company's funds, while borrowed funds will cover the rest 70-50%.
The company will also own a 100% stake in the aluminum smelter which is to be built in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and become the hydropower plant's key consumer. The partners plan to allot $1.2 billion for this purpose.
The project is expected to take 27-28 months to complete.
The only private company among the top three global aluminum producers, Rusal put out 2.7 million metric tons of aluminum in 2004, with annual turnover at $5.4 billion.
The construction of the Boguchaskaya HPP started in 1980 and was scheduled to be completed in 1992. However, the project was suspended due to a lack of funds. The plant is 55% ready.
Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref said he did not rule out that the state would participate in preparing the flood zone for the HPP.
"We are interested in the commercial efficiency of the project. I do not rule out the state's participation in it," Gref told journalists after a meeting on the completion of the Boguchanskaya HPP in Krasnoyarsk (Siberia).
The Boguchanskaya HPP is the largest hydrotechnical project in Russia and one of the largest ones in the world. The commissioning of the Boguchanskaya HPP and the construction of the aluminum smelter will boost the economic development of the Lower Angara, which holds vast natural resources of oil, gas, gold (about 10% of Russia's total proven resources), timber, and large deposits of niobium, zinc, lead, bauxite and magnesium carbonate.
