Chinese banks to get 30% stake in Rosatom’s project in Jordan.

VIENNA, September 15 /TASS/. Chinese banks may invest in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Jordan and get a 30% stake in the project which is being implemented by the Russian State Corporation for Atomic Energy (Rosatom), Haled Toukan, the head of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, told journalists on the sidelines of the 59th session of the IAEA General Conference on Tuesday. He said the Commission was negotiating who was going to finance the project with the Russian side and had attracted Chinese banks and financial institutions to those negotiations. They can (Chinese banks) grant a soft loan for the NPP project and get part of it in exchange, Toukan said. According to him, China will most likely supply the equipment while Russia will get exclusive rights to build the NPP. Russia, China and Jordan are taking part in the negotiations now. Industrial Commercial Bank of China and the China Nuclear National Corporation (CNNC) will participate in the project from the Chinese side, Toukan said adding that Chinese companies might get a possibility to conclude subcontracts. According to him, China’s participation in the project will bring Jordan’s share to 35%; Rosatom’s to 35% and China’s to 30%. The structure of the shareholders’ capital will change, Toukan said. Previous reports said that Rosatom had won a tender in November 2013. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - Areva Japanese-French consortium was its chief rival. Late in September last year, the three countries signed a $10-billion pre-investment agreement on the NPP project. Previously, the sides discussed a possibility of setting up a joint venture in which Jordan and Rosatom (or one of its affiliated companies) would have owned 51% and 41% of shares, respectively. Rosatom is using this financing scheme in the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant project in Finland in which the state corporation has a 34% stake. The NPP in Jordan is supposed to have two 1,000 MW power units. The nuclear power plant’s construction will enable Jordan to fully meet its electric energy needs and export energy to other countries - Syria and Iraq. Read more