Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai on March 9 launched an order to start the construction of the Vinh Tan 4 Thermal Power Plant at the Vinh Tan Power Centre in the central province of Binh Thuan.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Deputy PM Hai confirmed that the project brings considerable relief to the transmission of power from the North to the South, the work that suffers a certain degree of losses and insecurity.

According to Nguyen Van Le, Chairman of the EVN Power Generation Company 3 (EVN Genco 3) - the project’s investor, the two-turbine 1,200 MW plant will cost over 36 trillion VND (about 1.69 billion USD).

Le said the plant will use environmentally friendly technology meeting Vietnamese and international standards on emissions.

One completed and fully operational by 2018, it is projected to generate about 7.2 billion kWh per year for the national grid.

The project is implemented by four main contractors, including the Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction of the Republic of Korea, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, the Pacific Ocean Engineering JSC and the Power Engineering and Consulting 2 JSC.

The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract has 85 percent of its capital co-funded by the Korean Eximbank (KEXIM), the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). The remaining 15 percent are covered by the project’s investor.

The Vinh Tan Power Centre is comprised of four thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 5,600 MW. It will generate power mostly for the southern central region and localities in the south.-VNA