Over 21 trillion VND needed to supply electricity for rural households

Hanoi (VNA) - Over 21 trillion VND (913 million USD) is needed to supply electricity to most rural households currently without access, heard a consultation conference in Hanoi on December 18 to pool investment for power supply projects in rural, mountainous, and island areas in the 2021-2025 period.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An said Vietnam has posted major achievements in rural electrification, with the rate of power consumers increasing steadily.

By 2025, the country targets supplying electricity to over 871,000 households in more than 6,800 villages of 2,100 communes, and over 2,600 small and medium-sized pumping stations in the Mekong Delta, and connecting to the national grid or providing renewable energy to islands belonging to Quang Tri, Kien Giang, and Khanh Hoa provinces.

The 21.1 trillion VND in funding will come from the State budget. If Con Dao Island is also connected to the national grid, the investment will rise by a substantial 4.8 trillion VND.

An said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has held working sessions with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on two separate loans of about 360 million USD and 400 million USD.

Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority Bui Quoc Hung said 1.55 million households in 9,890 villages in all communes have been provided access to electricity, about 21,000 of whom were given access to renewable energy.

Programme Leader for the Energy Sector at the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam, Rahul Kitchlu, said Vietnam has become a global model in terms of electrification, and many countries hope to learn from its experience in the endeavour over the last two decades.

He added that the WB has raised nearly 2 billion USD out of 5 billion USD it committed to Vietnam, affirming that electrification is one of its priorities in the country.

Kitchul suggested that Vietnam introduce a mechanism on cooperation between relevant ministries, agencies, and units and adopt technological advances in the field./.