Ministry shortlists investors for country’s largest power plant
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has submitted a short list of three investors, including Japan’s Toyo, to the government for a coal-fired power plant in Kien Giang Province, an official said Monday
Ta Van Huong, head of the ministry’s Energy Department, said industrial park operator Tan Tao Group (Itaco) and state oil monopoly PetroVietnam are the others chosen from among many local and foreign investors interested in the country’s largest coal-fired project, which could cost up to US$5.3 billion.
The short-listed investors would each be awarded a separate package, he said.
Itaco will build the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Kien Luong 1 plant, Toyo the 1,200 MW Kien Luong 2 plant and PetroVietnam the 2,000 MW Kien Luong 3.
The plants, situated far from Vietnam's northern coal hub, will use imported coal.
A source from Itaco said coal would be shipped to the plant from Australia and Indonesia.
The plant will meet the increasing demand in the south which gets most of its power from the north, Huong said.
The projects may go on stream in 2016 or 2017 if they get approval to start work next year, he said.
The plants would power industrial parks and urban areas developed by Itaco, according to the Itaco source, who said Kien Luong Cement Plant and Rach Vuot industrial parks in Kien Giang and Ha Tien provinces would also use the power.
The country’s growing economy is struggling to meet its power demands, which are forecast to continue to rise at about 15 percent annually.
The government plans to build more thermal, hydro and wind power plants in the next decade. It also plans to build a nuclear plant by 2020.
Thanhnien
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