Thanh Hoa road needs additional financing

Trung Son hydropower

Ngo Viet Hai, general director of Power Generation Corporation 2 (EVNGENCO2), investor in the hydropower project, said the plant’s timetable cannot be achieved if the road is not finished before the end of May next year.

According to Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Hoi, flooding caused by the construction of the Trung Son plant forced the committee to change the road’s route, which lengthened it by 6.2 kilometres. Currently the road needs VND578.2 billion ($26 million) in additional funding to reach completion.

The state-run Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and the Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee have several times warned the prime minister and ministries about the problem, to which they have given no answer.

A representative from EVN, at a recent meeting between Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee Trinh Van Chien, the group and the World Bank (WB), said that EVN was facing difficulties providing the needed capital to the Thanh Hoa plant, as it is also having to borrow money for its own investment.

As for the country director of the WB in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa, she said the state could use $26 million out of a recent WB’s $200 million loan provided to the country. Another solution she proposed was to provide Thanh Hoa a new loan to finish the road, but said the lending process was overly time-consuming.

Chien said EVN’s representative has agreed to ask the prime minister and other authorities to arrange the needed capital.

The 260 megawatt Trung Son hydropower plant started construction in 2012 and is expected to operate in 2017. It has the total investment capital of $410.68 million, including a $330 million WB loan and the remainder from EVN.