A partnership between China's Dongfang Electric Corporation and Japan's Marubeni Corporation has just signed with the Vietnamese side an engineering procurement construction (EPC) contract to build a thermoelectric plant in northern Hai Phong city, local newspaper New Hanoi reported Thursday.

Under the 507-million US dollar contract, the partnership will complete construction of the two-turbine plant with capacity of 600 mw within 40 months. Capitalized at nearly 9,671 billion Vietnamese dong (some 612 million US dollars), the plant will annually generate 3.6 billion kwh, serving Hanoi capital city, Hai Phong and northern Quang Ninh province.

The project's developer is the Hai Phong Thermoelectricity Joint Stock Company with its founding members being the Electricity of Vietnam, the Vietnam Coal Corporation, and the Vietnam Insurance Corporation.

By constructing more power plants, Vietnam hopes to increase its electricity capacity to 25,000-26,000 mw in 2010 from the current 11,400 mw, to meet the demand for its socio-economic development. Now, 95.4 percent of communes and nearly 91.3 percent of households in Vietnam have access to the national electricity grid.

Source: Xinhua