All power lines in HCM City to go underground by 2020

HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is applying itself to burying all overhead power lines by 2020 as the “spider’s web” of overhead cables is marring the city’s image.

About 650km of medium-voltage and 1,150km of low-voltage power lines across Ho Chi Minh City will be buried from now to 2020 by the HCM City Power Corporation.

While the firm finished 81 projects on burying overhead cables from 2011 to the end of Q1 this year, another 16 projects will be completed in Q2. In total, 320km of medium-voltage and 530km of low-voltage power lines have gone underground.

The firm has stashed away power lines and telecommunication cables in six areas and 74 streets, including Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, and Ham Nghi streets in the city’s centre.

It is working with telecom service providers to carry out 36 similar projects and plans to finish them in early Q4.

At a recent working session with the Electricity of Vietnam group and the HCM City Power Corporation, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said although power grids in new residential areas have been buried, cables are still tangled like a “spider’s web” in older areas.

He told the local electricity sector to speed up the burying of overhead cables in downtown areas so as to move on to other zones, especially in the suburbs which see serious tangled cables.-VNA