Baker & McKenzie has secured a key role on the largest IPP related coal-fired power plant in Asia.

Partner Christopher Lee is leading the team at Wong & Partners - Bakers' correspondent firm in Malaysia - advising independent power producer SKS Power Sdn Bhd in its plan to develop a 2100 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Tanjung Bin in Malaysia.

The plant, which comprises three units of 700MW, will supply electricity to state utility company Tenaga Nasional Berhad. The first is expected to be operational by August 2006 with the other two completed the following year.

SKS Power Sdn Bhd recently awarded a US$1.5bn contract to build the plant to a three-company consortium led by the Sumitomo Corporation and including Summit Power Malaysia (a wholly-owned special-purpose subsidiary of Sumitomo) and Zelan Holding Sdn Bhd (a Kuala Lumpur based civil engineering company).

The signing of the engineering, procurement and construction contract (EPCC) was initially postponed, reportedly due to a disagreement between SKS Ventures, the owner of Tanjung Bin, and the main contractors over the contract.

Eight banks including Malaysia's largest, Maybank, and Singapore's largest, United Overseas Bank, are arranging financing for the project. The financing deal should close between the end of October and mid-November.
Tanjung Bin is in the southern state of Johor Bahru, on the southernmost portion of the Malaysian peninsular.