BEIJING, Nov.29 (Xinhua) -- CMEC, one of China's major state-owned companies engaged in machinery and equipment foreign trade, has won a tender to act as general contractor of a Laotian Hongsa thermo-power station.

With a total investment of 1.35 billion U.S. dollars, the project, with a capacity of three 600 megawatt generators, will be finished within 60 months. The first generator will start operation in 51 months, according to a report in Thursday's Shanghai Securities News.

The Hongsa power station is a pithead project with three 600 mw subcritical ignite-powered generators. It was the first time China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) had sold such generators to the international market, the report said.

CMEC had tracked the project since 2005, a company spokesman said. It had been recognized over several large international project contractors to win recognition from the Laotians, international credit conglomerates and the project owner, according to a company spokesman.

He said the project had been launched as the backdrop of a joint development between China and six other countries along the Mekong River, which is called by Chinese Lancang River. It would play a significant role in Laotian and Thai power supply and economic development.