Vietnam to Spend US$1.1B on Resettlement for Son La Hydropower Project

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a resettlement plan costing VND20.3 trillion (US$1.1 billion) for the 2,400-MW Son La hydropower project, the biggest of its kind in the country so far.

Of the sum, VND14.3 trillion will come from the state budget and the rest from the state-run Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN), the Vietnamese government said on its website on Wednesday.

The VND36.93 trillion (US$1.94 billion) plant is estimated to displace 20,260 households, comprising of 12,500 in Son La province, 4,436 in Dien Bien province and 3,324 in Lai Chau province in the northern region.

Authorities in those localities have to date completed resettlement for a combined 18,157 households and are speeding up the work for the remaining families before EVN finishes hoarding water for the plant by end-June in order to start operation turbine 1 on December 25.

The six-turbine plant is expected to generate 10.2 billion kWh of power a year once fully operational in 2012

Tags: Son La hydropower, Vietnam energy, Vietnam hydropowe power

Posted by VBN on Jun 11 2010. Filed under Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry