Standing Deputy PM Nguyễn Sinh Hùng: Electricity sector should gear for rapid growth, efficiency and sustainability

EVN Group in the opening ceremony – Photo: VNGOVNet

The emergence of the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) with its business involving a wide variety of areas on total charter capital of VND 48,379.5 billion is described a landmark in the entity's quantitative and qualitative rise of the Vietnam Electricity Corporation itself and the electricity sector in general. The event is one of the moves meant to raise the electricity sector's competitive advantage in the post-WTO period, hoped to help complete the construction of 25 power plants before 2010 to meet the demand of the fast growing economy for power energy, and facilitate the formation of a transparent electricity market attractive to domestic and foreign investors as from 2009 in line with a roadmap approved by the Government.

According to a report delivered by EVN management board chairman Đào Văn Hưng, at present, Vietnam has 124 power plants with the total capacity of 34,659 MW. EVN functions as the investor and owns the controlling equity in 48 plants with total capacity of 20,570 MW. As a group, instead of its regime of administrative management, EVN will have more authority to run as a profit-oriented institution, meaning that itself and its subsidiary companies can take more initiatives operating in the market economy.

Addressing the ceremony, Deputy PM Nguyễn Sinh Hùng said that the electricity sector plays a decisive role in the country’s economic development. In the time to come, the sector’s tasks are to ensure sufficient supply of  electricity, embrace electrification across the whole economy, and diversify itself from supply of thermal and hydro to atomic and wind electricity. He said that electricity tops the national energy development strategy. The Deputy PM said that for the national economic growth rate to reach 7-8% in the period 2006-2010, that of the power sector should be more than double, equivalent to 16-17% per annum. He also requested that, in terms of investment,  EVN should work to boost the development of the electricity market, easing the state of monopoly in which, and aim for which to grow in a faster, more effective and sustainable way. EVN should hold the key areas of the distribution market to make sure that all production and business activities in the sector are the country’s sake. EVN should brace itself for the competition from foreign investors on both domestic and foreign markets. Thus, it should try to make more qualitative improvements in production, business, administration, services, and training of human resources in the new period so as to be able to dominate the domestic market and penetrate into the international one. 

By Hoàng Nguyên Hồ