Power Distribution Improvement Project

The development objective of the Power Distribution Improvement Project for Lao People’s Democratic Republic is to strengthen the capacity and efficiency of the distribution system in the project areas and improve Électricité du Lao (EDL’s) financial management capacity; and in case of an eligible crisis or emergency, respond promptly and effectively to it. The project comprises of three components. The first component, substation investments and grid monitoring systems will finance two sub-components: (i) support replacement or additions of transformers in targeted substations that have low performance and high technical losses due to the aging transformers and or inadequate distribution capacity; and (ii) support the installation of system monitoring and protection relay units, procuring design and planning software and portable analyzer sets, project technical implementation support, and EDL staff training for the use of the system planning software packages and portable analyzers. The second component, financial management system and the proprietary enterprise resource planning software that EDL has adopted (SAP) implementation will support consulting and non-consulting services, technical assistance, and capacity building required for the strengthening of financial management system (FMS) at EDL corporate level and for completing the integration and adoption of the SAP to its full capacity. The third component, contingent emergency response a zero-dollar component will allow rapid reallocation of credits proceeds to respond to an unanticipated eligible crisis or emergency.