Vietnam starts building 555 million dollar gas power plant

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam has started building a 555 million dollar gas-fired power plant in the southern Mekong delta as part of efforts to deal with its severe power shortage, an official said.

A Japanese loan will pay for up to 85 percent of the 600 megawatt plant at Can Tho, southwest of the commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City, that is set to start operating by 2008 using the country's offshore gas reserves.

The plant "is part of the 2,800 megawatt O Mon thermal power center with total investment of roughly two billion dollars, the largest in the Mekong delta," an official from state giant Electricity of Vietnam told AFP.

The project is one of 10 power plants built with loans from the Japanese government and one of four planned for the O Mon thermal power...