• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Vietnam Starts Construction of Mekong Delta's Largest Thermal Power Plant

Posted on: Monday, 27 February 2006, 06:00 CST

Text of report in English by Vietnamese news agency VNA website

Can Tho, 26 February: Construction of the 600 MW thermo-electric power plant, the first project of the largest thermo-electric power centre in the Mekong Delta, started in Can Tho city on 26 February.

The O Mon plant 1, which will have two turbine groups to produce annually 3.6bn kWh, will be built with an investment of 6.7 trillion dong (555m US dollars) as approved by the Vietnamese government.

As much as 85 per cent of the total investment will be provided by the Japanese Government's preferential loan made through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The plant is one of ten power plants built with loans from the Japanese Government and one of four power plants planned for the O Mon Thermo-electric Power Centre.

The first turbine group is scheduled to begin operation in late 2008 and the second, in 2010.

Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highlighted the importance of the O Mon Thermo- electric Power Centre, the second largest in the country, in solving the shortage of power in the Mekong delta as well as in Vietnam.

Deputy PM Dung asked the Electricity of Vietnam corporation to discuss with partners the possibility of bringing gas offshore from Lot B of Phu Quoc island to the power centre in order to reduce cost.

He also asked Can Tho city to cooperate with other provinces to build gas pipelines to the centre.

According to EVN General Director Dao Van Hung, the O Mon centre with a total capacity of 2,800 MW will be built at a cost of 2bn US dollars. Every year, the centre will use around 4bn cu.m of gas, including between 800m-1bn cu.m of gas for its first plant.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

More News in this Category