Hong Kong electricity supplier CLP Power will inject US$240 million to build a water power station in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, a senior provincial official told reporters yesterday.

CLP will own the project located in western Sichuan's Aba prefecture, said Tang Limin, vice-director of Sichuan Investment Promotion Bureau, who is in Hong Kong to promote investment in the province.

A total of 182 investment projects, mainly in the sectors of manufacturing, service and infrastructure, have been signed with Hong Kong investors, involving over US$2 billion.

The projects include a 260-million-yuan (US$31.3 million) deal with Hong Kong-listed gas distributor Panva Gas Holdings, which plans to invest in four joint-venture projects in Ping-chang, Yibin, Jianyang and Yuechi of Sichuan Province.

"The four projects are expected to add a total 100,000 new subscribers to the company when they are completed in the first quarter of 2004," said Chen Wei, managing director of the mainland-based Panva which has Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa as its second largest shareholder. He estimated the internal rate of return for the new projects to match the existing 20 per cent.