KL needs funds for power

KL needs funds for power

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia will need some US$29 billion to fund its power needs by 2020 and more than half of this amount will come from external borrowing, the country's Energy, Telecommunications and Posts minister said.

"It can safely be said that we will be needing about $29 billion in the next 26 years," Samy Vellu was quoted by Business Times newspaper as saying.

"About 50 percent of the financing will have to be sourced externally," he told reporters.

Vellu said power demand in Malaysia is forecast to surge to some 35,000 megawatts per year by 2020 against the present 6,000 megawatts per year.

He said Malaysia needs to seek alternative sources of energy and to devise new ways of bringing them on stream, including increased use of independent power producers.

He said the country could not depend too heavily on sources which were being depleted, such as natural gas.