China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) has won a tender to act as general contractor of a Laotian Hongsa thermo-power station.

With a total investment of US$1.35 billion, the project, with a capacity of three 600 megawatt generators, will be finished within 60 months. The first generator will start operation in 51 months, according to a report in Thursday's Shanghai Securities News.

The Hongsa power station is a pithead project with three 600 mw subcritical ignite-powered generators. It was the first time CMEC had sold such generators to the international market, the report said.

CMEC had tracked the project since 2005, a company spokesman said. It had been recognized over several large international project contractors to win recognition from the Laotians, international credit conglomerates and the project owner, according to a company spokesman.

He said the project had been launched as the backdrop of a joint development between China and six other countries along the Mekong River, which is called by Chinese Lancang River. It would play a significant role in Laotian and Thai power supply and economic development.

CMEC is one of China's major state-owned companies engaged in machinery and equipment foreign trade.