Vietnam needs $10B for power grids

Vietnam needs $10 billion for power grid development in the 2010-2015 period. The figure is five and seven times more than the investment for the past five years.

According to the Vietnam News Agency, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Institute of Energy stated that the state-owned Vietnam National Power Transmission Corporation or NPT has mobilized a combined $1.789 billion.

The company plans to put into operation 189 power grid works, raise capacity of transformer stations to a combined 35,125 MVA, and run 5,307 kilometers of power lines by 2015, NPT General Director Nguyen Ha Dong
NPT is finding hard to borrow capital for its projects as only four out of total 116 domestic financial institutions are affordable to lend it US$66.7 million and more for a project while others have to form alliances for the lending, he noted.

He added that with a registered capital of US$369.5 million, NPT has to call for approval for loans worth over US$1.1 billion while its total debts have been close to the cap.