HANOI - The Vietnamese
government will give priority to promoting the rural
electrification program in the Mekong Delta in the
coming years, with a view to bringing into full play the
region's great potential and advantages, said Industry
Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
Minister Hai was
speaking at the 5th conference of Industrial Services of
Mekong Delta provinces held recently under the theme
"Electricity management and development in the region's
rural area".
The Mekong Delta, covering 12
provinces in southern Vietnam, is the country's biggest
rice producer with an annual output reaching 16 million
tons and has large areas of orchards of high economic
value. With its strategic position, the region plays an
important role in the country's socioeconomic
development, national security and defense maintenance.
The electricity sector has accelerated the
electrification program in all the Mekong Delta
provinces' rural areas since 1996. By June 2002, all
communes had gained access to the medium-voltage
electricity network.
The number of rural
households in the region with access to the national
power grid has increased from about 2.2 million (69.57
percent) in 2001 to nearly 2.34 million (73 percent) in
mid-2002. The rate is expected to rise to 75.9 percent
by the end of the year. To ensure transmission safety,
reduce electricity losses and lower the price of
electricity for local people, the provincial industrial
services in the region have worked out electricity
development plans for provinces and districts.
The Energy Institute forecasts that the region's
demand for electricity will rise 12.7 percent a year in
the next 10 years, from 3 billion kilowatts per hour in
2000 to nearly 6 billion kWh in 2005 and about 10
billion kWh by 2010, accounting for more than 10 percent
of the national demand.
For all communes and 95
percent of households in the region to have access to
the electricity grid by 2005, the electricity sector
plans to build a 600-MW gas-powered electricity plant in
O Mon, Can Tho province, and a 720-MW plant in the Ca
Mau gas-electricity fertilizer zone. In the 2006-2010
period, the O Mon power plant will be enlarged to have
an output of 1,200 MW, and a 720-MW gas-powered plant
will be built in Hon Dat district, Kien Giang province.
The sector also plans to invest more than VND509
billion (US$34 million) to develop low-voltage
electricity grids in 78 communes in Bac Lieu, Kien
Giang, Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long
provinces.
