IMPSA has been present in the Taiwanese market for the past 10 years, at the beginning participating in the development of port crane projects, and later development a hydropower project.
The nineties were prodigal for containers cranes. Ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung gave to IMPSA the opportunity to provide two and three Articulate Boom Post Panamax Cranes, respectively.
The new millennium let IMPSA to complete its third Project in Taiwan, a "Turn-Key" Hydropower Project: the Liyutan Shihlin Hydropower Plant for Taiwan Power Company. Partnered locally with TECO Electric and Machinery Company, the 84.8 MW plant has been handed over to Taiwan Power Co on March 13 this year.
Argentina-based firm IMPSA and local partner TECO Electrical and Machinery Co. took over the "Liyutan Shihlin Hydroelectric Project" almost a month ahead of schedule with highly satisfactory results. Commissioning of the first unit took place on January 16, 2002 (20 days ahead of schedule) while the second and last unit began generating power on March 15: 27 days before the date stipulated in the contract.
Daniel Jose Rossi, Country Manager of IMPSA Asia said, IMPSA, a 100-year-old international conglomerate, has positioned itself in the world market through the supply of capital goods and services to ports and power plants. IMPSA has earned a reputation for its dedication to the provision of integrated solutions to complex projects.
IMPSA
IMPSA Corp. does business in the following areas: environmental services, insurance, agribusiness and winemaking, and auto parts.
The Capital Goods Business Unit is divided into IMPSA Hydro, for energy projects, and IMPSA Port Systems (IPS) for port equipment and services.
Basically, IMPSA Hydro engages in hydropower generation business especially in the BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) concession mode, and in EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) turnkey contracts. It also provides hydroelectrically equipment such as turbines, generators and other electromechanical parts for intake and diversion works, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of hydroelectric power plants during their commercial operation.
IPS manufactures material handling and container cranes, in general, and develops information systems that are used to control container loading and unloading operations in ports and related services.
Both divisions form an operational network that covers different regions of the world.
Market vision
In recent years IMPSA has increased the number of markets where it offers its capital goods. Over the last 25 years, IMPSA has participated in more than 150 hydroelectric projects, and in 110 crane projects in 30 countries in North America, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
In the last ten years, IMPSA has strengthened its presence in Asia by developing manufacturing capabilities through the organization of companies and contracts with local manufacturers and subcontractors. The strategy has also been implemented in other parts of the world allowing the company to enhance its competitiveness and to gain a larger share of the most important international market.
IMPSA seeks to increase its sale of capital goods by providing high value-added services, including after-sale services, operation and maintenance of all its capital goods, and refurbishing and upgrading of old hydropower plants and obsolete port facilities (especially in China, North America and Europe).
Likewise, IMPSA Hydro has begun to participate in the independent power producers (IPP) market with concession contracts as well as contracts for the provision of integrated solutions -such as BOT (build, operate and transfer) and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts. IPS, for its part, is expanding its product portfolio by offering information technology services that enhance the efficiency of port services.
The company's strategy aims at proposing equity investments in hydropower projects, especially BOT, BROT (build, rehabilitate, operate and transfer) and/or similar schemes. The company determines the appropriate size of these investments based on the risks involved (technical, political, etc.), on the project's potential profitability, on capital recovery in a reasonable period of time, on the possibility of executing the projects by forming strategic partnerships and with institutional investors, and on the prospect of financing the project in international capital markets.
Two of the company's hydropower projects -- Potrerillos in Argentina and CBK in the Philippines -- are well under way. Similar projects in Argentina, Brazil and other countries are being assessed. For such projects IMPSA will have to obtain financing for a portion of the construction costs. As shareholder of the concession-holding firm, the company expects to recover an acceptable profit margin from the sale of hydropower during the operation and maintenance period, usually 25 to 30 years.
Trade ties
In the hydropower market we see a good future for IMPSA in Taiwan through tender participations and/or providing cooperation to potential local partners in the IPP market, and in the region as a developer of hydroelectric projects, especially as countries are moving towards privatization. We can point to IMPSA's projects in the Philippines as examples of this, said Daniel Jose Rossi.
Precedent conditions for the suitability of a BROT (build, rehabilitate, operate and transfer) contract between CBK Power Co. Ltd. and National Power Corp. (NAPOCOR) of the Philippines were fulfilled so that it began over one year ago to work on an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract that IMPSA has with CBK Power Company Ltd.
The importance of this project for the Philippines Electrical System with the rehabilitation and the increment of the pumping and generating capacity of the CBK complex are both vital and strategic for the safety and reliability of the electric network of the Luzon Island (this island concentrates more than 70 percent of the activity of all the Philippines).
Similar BOT (build, operate and transfer) projects have been developed by IMPSA in Argentina. The first of those projects, named Potrerillos, is ready to produce power this June 2002.
Those projects require financial support from the public and private sectors. In this regard, both countries -- Taiwan and Argentina -- have complementary needs; i.e.: Taiwan has enough business and financial institutions looking for globalization beyond China, and Argentina offers many possibilities for investors.
Particularly in the hydro power area, IMPSA has attained a high level of development in the management of BOT & BROT projects. Those achievements have caught the attention of Taiwanese investors.
On the above arena of business, hopefully we foresee good opportunities for both countries, Rossi remarked.
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