EGIIN GOL HYDROPOWER PLANT WILL NOT AFFECT LAKE BAIKAL, SAYS PROJECT OFFICIAL
D.Budkhuu, engineer and head of the Egiin Gol Hydropower Plant project's technical team, gave a presentation at the Technology Investment 2017 conference, stating that the new Egiin Gol project will not affect Lake Baikal.
The Egiin Gol project has been discussed for the past 20 years, but has been repeatedly delayed. “The Egiin Gol Hydropower Plant will be situated in Khutag-Undur soum, in Bulgan Province. The Russians were exploring building a hydropower plant on the Egiin River in 1964,” noted D.Budkhuu.
D.Budkhuu said that the project was to be financed by a soft loan from China in 2006, but was put on hold due to a change in government. In 2015, preliminary agreements were made with China to provide one billion USD in financing through a soft loan.
The current project team was commissioned in 2011. They have contracted multiple firms to conduct feasibility studies and have said they plan to conduct a new environmental study.
The new feasibility study puts the cost of the project at 827 million USD. Forty-eight percent of the cost is construction, 30 percent will be spent on machinery, and the remainder will be spent on building roads.
D.Budkhuu answered questions from the audience after his presentation.
What stage is the project in?
The feasibility study of the project and the documents required for procurement are finished. We are ready to begin preparations for the project.
This year, Mongolian and Russian experts will meet to discuss the possible effects of the hydropower plant. Can you give us more information about this?
There will be a meeting between experts to discuss the potential effect of the Egiin Gol Hydropower Plant on the hydrogeology of Lake Baikal.
The implementation of the project will depend on the results of that meeting. We want to prove that it will have little effect on Lake Baikal. The Russian side believes that the lake will shrink. We are currently not taking any water away from Lake Baikal. They are on the brink of ruining the lake on their own. Now, when we discuss the Egiin Gol Hydropower Plant, all of them suddenly love Lake Baikal.
What proof do you have that the plant will
not affect the lake?
We have contracted many professional firms to conduct feasibility studies for us. In the process of our feasibility studies being carried out, the Russians made a stir, and as a result, we had additional studies done.
The studies indicate that the effect on Lake Baikal will be 0.023 percent, but this is only when Lake Baikal is receiving water. It will have no affect otherwise. We are not withholding the water, it will be sent through a turbine and be put back into the river's flow.
A one billion USD loan from China was in discussion to finance this project. Is that offer still on the table?
The soft loan was approved by Parliament before. However, due to a change in government we were not able to receive the funding.
The problem with the Russian side has distracted us from focusing on finding capital for the project.
Recently, Cabinet made the decision to make the Egiin Gol Hydropower Plant a state-owned company. How will you work with this decision?
Our project team will be an LLC first. Eventually, there is talk that we could become a joint stock company. We are just following the decisions of the cabinet.