ASEAN to sign power pact in July

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will sign a pact to set up a power grid amid rising oil prices and surging demand for energy, Antara reported on Tuesday.

The deal will be signed at an ASEAN energy ministers meeting in Vientiane of Laos in July to develop the grid which will connect member countries, said the Star daily

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam

Under the plan, a country can sell surplus power to a neighboring country in the event of a power failure through soon-to-be built transmission lines, the New Straits Times added

Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, chief executive of Malaysia's state-owned power firm Tenaga, said ASEAN was compelled into hastening the power grid amid rising oil prices and growing demand for energy.

Funding would be provided by the Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank of International Cooperation, he added.

Indonesia's Transmission and Distribution director Herman Darnel Ibrahim said power connection could be realised by 2011. (*)