"We're waiting for final approval from the Finance Ministry," Pichai Chulapongsathorn, deputy governor of the agency, said yesterday.

The proceeds will be used to finance part of the Songkhla power plant project, aimed at expanding the transmission grid to 230 kilovolts, and to redeem bonds maturing this year.

Egat's board approved the debt financing after a plan to raise equity funds from the public was scrapped.

Egat is studying fund-raising options for next year, to determine the mix of borrowings from financial institutions and cash generated from operations.

"We believe that Egat has no problem in obtaining loans due to its positive ratings. Financial institutions are ready to lend to Egat," Pichai said.

He said Egat's plan to build four power plants would not encounter any problem, despite a slight delay.

The Cabinet has approved the construction of the power plant in Songkhla and two more in Bangkok A third Bangkok plant has not been approved yet.

Pichai said Egat needed to revise its revenue-building strategy now that it had resumed state-enterprise status. One option is to establish Egat International Co Ltd and subsidiaries to invest in businesses such as logistics, maintenance, operations and power-plant construction. That would serve Egat's plans to expand overseas.

Another option is to set up a power-management company to provide advisory services to industrial plants, which have shown high demand for such services.

Egat Telecom Co Ltd, which was formed while Egat was briefly transformed into a public company, would get a new name and mission.

"Egat Telecom has to scrap its original business plan as the Council of State ruled that fibre-optic services were not one of the objectives in setting up Egat. So we need to ditch the business plan and redirect the firm's attention to other businesses related to Egat's operations," Pichai said.

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