Facilitating electricity supplies in mountainous areas

10/09/2013

In an effort to call for capital resources for the electricity network development in rural, mountainous and island areas in the 2013-2020 period, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has raised a significant amount of capital from international organizations.

It is expected that electricity supplies will be connected to remote areas by 2015

Insufficient and weak

Insufficient and weak electricity supplies are general features of provinces in the Northern midlands and mountainous regions. Of those, Cao Bang and Dien Bien provinces have lowest rates of electricity consumption in the country, 74 percent and 76 percent respectively. Meanwhile, 175 hamlets and villages in Yen Bai Province and 140 others in Lao Cai Province have not connected to the national power network.

Deputy Director of Tuyen Quang’s Department of Industry and Trade Truong Xuan Quy said the provincial electricity supply remains both insufficient and weak. Frequent power cut seriously affected production activities of provincial enterprises.

Due to problems relating to electricity supply, investors were cautious with their investment projects in Tuyen Quang Province. Many projects have not been carried out and Truong Xuan Quy said “the province is unlikely to fulfill this year’s plans with the current serious shortage of electricity supply.”

The Northern midlands and mountainous provinces naturally do not have many favorable conditions for socioeconomic development. Instead, their biggest potential is mineral resources. However, the question now is how to develop the mineral industry for 14 provinces in this region when they still lack electricity supply for production?

Seeking for capital resources

Nguyen Van Thanh, the Head of the Department of Rural Grid and Power under the General Department of Energy, MOIT said most localities in the Northern midlands and mountainous region use power resources purchased from China. The resources are not directly connected but has to be split into independent power grids. Therefore, provinces far from the frontier such as Bac Giang have to get electricity from Thai Nguyen and Ha Giang provinces resulting in low quality due to electricity loss during power transmission processes.

To help these provinces remove difficulties relating to electricity, the MOIT has submitted the Program on Electricity Network Development in rural, mountainous and island areas in the 2013-2020 period to the government. The program has total investment capital of VND30 trillion. Its phase 1 needs about VND7 trillion, however the state budget only meet VND900 billion and the government has assigned the MOIT to mobilize the remainder for the program.

So far, the MOIT has mobilized VND2 trillion from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund and US$500-700 million from international organizations. The ministry has also negotiated with the Asian Development Bank to boost investment in rural power grids phase one for Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces and is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2014. The MOIT has also allowed the Northern Power Corporation to invest in rural power grids phase two for these two provinces with a capital resource of VND126 billion. Especially, the ministry is about to deploy some projects on recycled energy with total capital from US$500-600 million.

It is estimated that by 2015 electricity supplies will be connected to hamlets and villages in remote areas, Nguyen Van Thanh added.

By Le My

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