UC RUSAL pays 897 mln rubles towards Boguchanskaya Hydro Plant construction costs
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - United Company RUSAL has transferred 897 million rubles in building costs for the Boguchanskaya Hydropower Plant and has now invested the same amount of money in the project as hydrogenerating company RusHydro , the aluminum giant said in a press release.
The company has also transferred an additional 130 million rubles to pay for construction work in July in accordance with the financing schedule for the third quarter. From now on, UC RUSAL and RusHydro will finance construction work on an equal basis.
UC RUSAL is also insisting on the fulfillment of decisions made by a committee of representatives of investors from the Boguchansk Energy & Metallurgical Association (BEMO) project and on a 10%-38% reduction in the cost of work by the main contracting organizations, the statement says. The company expects to finish revising agreements and replacing contractors opposed to the new terms by the end of August 2009.
RusHydro and UC RUSAL are still in discussions on the synchronized launch of the Boguchanskaya Hydropower Plant and the first production facilities at the Boguchansk and Taishet aluminum plants. More than $850 million have been invested in the construction of the two plants.
Measures to reduce construction costs have saved the project's investors some 2 billion rubles since the start of 2009, the statement says. Specifically, the companies saved 1.5 billion rubles by declining annual indexation of construction and installation work and 500 million rubles from lowering the cost of construction materials.