Construction of southern Vietnam's first thermal power plant, Vinh Tan 2, kicked off on Aigust 8 in Binh Thuan province's Tuy Phong district.

The project is worth 23 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD) and the plant has a designed capacity of 1,244MW.

The Vinh Tan 2 Thermal Power Plant would be one of three plants that make up the Vinh Tan Power Centre, General Director of Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) Pham Le Thanh said.


The plant would house two 622-MW turbines and consume about 3 million tonnes of coal per year. When fully operational in June 2014, the plant is expected to produce 7.2 billion kWh annually.

Eighty-five percent of the project's total investment was provided by a preferential loan from the China Import-Export Bank and the Chinese Government's official development assistance capital. The project's remaining capital was provided by the EVN.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said he highly appreciates the significance of the plant because it will help ensure the country's energy security, which will enhance the socio-economic development of the south in particular and of the country in general.

Thanh said the project will be an important supplementary provision of electricity that would satisfy the southern key economic region's increasing demand, help ease pressure on the North-South transmission line, and improve the efficiency of the national grid system.

Hai asked the National Coal and Mineral Industries Group to cooperate with the Ministry of Transport to manage the delivery of coal to the Vinh Tan centre.

He requested the project's contractor, Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd (SEC) of China , to finish the plant on schedule.

Binh Thuan province People's Committee and local authorities were also asked to finish clearing the site before September and to take care of the people whose land is expropriated.

Hai said the Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with related agencies to complete contractual negotiations for Vinh Tan 1 and Vinh Tan 3 as soon as possible./.