Samsung C&T has signed a contract with KEGOC of Kazakhstan to build a coal-fired thermal power plant in the Central Asian nation and supply the company with $18.8 billion worth of power for 20 years with President Park Geun-hye and President Nursultan Nazarbayev attending the signing event following their summit.

The agreement for the project was reached during President Park’s state visit to the Central Asian nation.

The government has secured projects worth $33.1 billion in total while President Park was in the Central Asian country including the project to expand the Tingis oil field for $3.5 billion, the project to build a lubricant oil plant in Shumkent for $900 million, the project to jointly explore the Jambil undersea oil field for $5 billion, the Balhash power plant project worth $4.9 billion, the Attilau petrochemical plant complex construction project worth $5 billion, and others.

The list of cooperative projects agreed upon at the summit meeting between President Park and her counterpart President Nazarbayev at the Astana Presidential Palace on June 19 were included in the joint statement issued following the summit.

The biggest prize among the cooperative projects is the coal-fired thermal power plant project in Balhash valued at $4.9 billion, which was given to Samsung along with the rights to manage the plant for 20 years, supplying power to state-run power distribution company KEGOC, following the construction of the company’s power grid, all for $18.8 billion including $940 million for power supply.

Samsung Engineering will take charge of building the power plant with Samsung C&T and Korea Electric Power Corp. taking charge of financing matters including loans and investments, while KEGOC will take charge of building power grids. Samsung C&T holds a 75 percent stake in the Balhash power plant, while Samluk Energy of Kazakhstan holds the remaining 25 percent. KEPCO will take over 40 percent of Samsung’s stake in the near future once the project gets rolling.

An official at Cheong Wa Dae said it is the first profit-generating type project in Kazakhstan for a Korean firm, as it is a BOT (build, operate, and transfer) type, and he expects all the financial matters to be arranged this year and the completion of the construction of the power plant in 2019.

He also said Korea won the Tingis oil field expansion project worth $3.5 billion virtually already. President Park asked for the project from President Nazarbayev during the summit, along with the Shumkent lubrication oil plant project. Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding are the two companies being looked upon as the likely winners of the project.

The chief executives also signed an MOU on a number of matters including the exemption of visas, legal systems, forestry management, and R&D activities.