If low-cost power can be produced, then the investment into the Ramu Two power project may proceed, said Prime Minister James Marape, who was responding to a report that a Chinese investor in the Ramu project had said that the government had nothing to do with this.
Marape added that the investment was part of the public-private partnership, where the Chinese government wants to invest in. The reports said that this investment would be priced at K6.94 billion (AU$2.6 billion) to be built by a Chinese hydropower company.
China’s Shenzhen Energy will finance, build, and operate this for 25 years before handing it over to PNG.
Marape said the Ramu project had been here for quite some time.
“State Enterprises Minister William Duma and the State-Owned Enterprises are handling that,” he said. “If the numbers are determined, the project will go ahead. If it’s not burdensome on PNG Power and if they produce low-cost power supply, then I don’t see any issue with it.”
If the numbers don’t stack up, then he said that the project might not proceed.
“It’s something that PNG Power will have a handle on at their level,” Marape said.
