To finance projects of a nuclear power group over the next five
years, the?Bank of China has issued credit and loans worth 60
billion yuan (US$7.5 billion).
The bank, one of the country's "Big Four" state-owned banks,
signed the cooperation agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear Power
Group on Monday.
Bank Governor Li Lihui said in line with China's mid and
long-term nuclear power development plans, the nation's installed
nuclear power capacity would reach 40 million kilowatts by 2020 and
the installed capacity under construction stood at 18 million
kilowatts.
The country's nuclear power industry will face an historic
development opportunity in the nation's 11th Five-Year?Plan period (2006-2010),
the governor said.
The group, which has successfully built the Daya Bay Nuclear
Power Station in Shenzhen, south China, is a central enterprise
with a registered capital of 10.2 billion yuan (US$1.28 billion).
Its total assets are 57.5 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion) and its
annual sales income is over 10 billion yuan.
In 1985 Bank of China was the sole financier of the Daya Bay
project which was the country's first commercial nuclear power
source. The station went into operation in 1994 with an annual
generating capacity of 15 billion kilowatt hours.
(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2006)