Societe Generale, a French multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Paris, expressed its interest in offering commercial loans for the two projects.

Previously, the prime minister approved the proposal of PV Power to take over the two projects from PetroVietnam after collecting the opinions of ministries and relevant authorities.

According to the plan, the two thermal power plants will cover an area of 34 hectares and have the total investment capital of VND33.3 trillion ($1.46 billion), with generation capacity of 750-800MW each.

Nhon Trach 3 will occupy nearly 16.6 hectares, while the second power plant will be spread over an area of 17.4ha (excluding the complex area, surface water, and public service buildings).

They will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from the Thi Vai storage terminal.

Nhon Trach 3 is expected to come into commercial operation in 2020, while Nhon Trach 4 is due for 2012.

PV Power will spend VND9.99 trillion ($438.29 million) of its equity and VND23.31 trillion ($1.02 billion) from loans developing the two projects.

The cooperation with Societe Generale will help PV Power address concerns about the ability to arrange capital for the two projects.

Entering Vietnam in 1989 with two representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Societe Generale supplied commercial loans for numerous large-scale projects for Vietnam in general and PetroVietnam’s projects in particular, including Song Hau 1 thermal power plant and Nghi Son Refinery.