China Power Investment Plans Flat 2010 Capex, Higher Coal Imports

State-owned China Power Investment Corp., one of the country’s five main power generators, plans 2010 capital expenditure roughly similar to last year’s levels, a senior official with the company said Wednesday.

The company’s coal imports will be higher this year, due partly to an agreement to import two million tons of Russian coal, but “capital expenditure this year will be close to last year,” said Lu QiZhou, general manager of China Power Investment Corp, without giving figures.

Lu was speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the government.

On Feb. 20, Xinhua News Agency reported that China Power Investment Corp. plans in 2010 to increase its installed generating capacity to 70 gigwatts, from 60 gigawatts last year.

In late January, government-backed industry newspaper the China Electric News reported that the company made a 2009 profit of CNY3.2 billion ($469 million), with help from a 23% increase in its electricity output.

The company had a loss of CNY6.9 billion in 2008, the newspaper reported. It didn’t say whether the figures were net or pretax.

-Wan Xu contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; 8610-84007799; wan.xu@dowjones.com