by Trinh Anh Duc
13-7-2001
The Vietnamese Government urged the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) to boost its own generation to ensure sufficient power for the country in the long term, and State money would be supplied to assist EVN in its investment. The Prime Minister, in a decision dated June 22, 2001, demanded that total power generation by 2005 should reach 45-50 billion kWh, 70-80 billion kWh by the end of the decade, and between 160 billion and 200 billion kWh in 2020. The decision was issued to endorse the development master plan that had earlier been submitted.
EVN would have to bolster its investment to assume a more active role in generation, and the Government instructed that generation by foreign-invested projects, including independent power plants and hydropowerproects and those developed under the build-operate-transfer, should account for no more than 20% of total output.
EVN would be allowed to retain the annual payable tax on State capital, and the money would be considered State funds for developing power plants. The State power utility is allowed to pool capital from different sources, and would be responsible for refunding, according to the decision.
The Government also stresseed the need to diversify generation sources, including hydropower, thermal power, and nuclear power. Priority would be given to hydro-power projects that incorporate other benefits such as flood prevention and irrigation. The Prime Minister in this decision urged the ministries of Industry, and Science, Technology and Environment to quickly complete the feasibility study for Vietnam's first nuclear power. Gas, coal, diesel, solar and wind-generated power plants would be developed to supply remote and out-of-the-way areas beyond the reach of the national grid.
In the decision, the Prime Minister also instructed EVN and related agencies to promote power sharing with regional countries, a process that Vietnam has been pushing for within the ASEAN region. He also instructed EVN to develop long-term relations with international engineering consulting firms specializing in hydropower projects combined with irrigatrion and flood-prevention so that these firms could be called up on short-notice to assist with the country's power development thrust. Having such relations in place, he said, would ensure the firms understood hydropower development in the context of Vietnam's sociology and developmental needs.