ADB approves $230 mln loan to help Vietnam improve power transmission

By Dam Tuan October 13, 2016 | 11:15 pm PT

The package is part of a 10-year assistance program to increase the country's transmission capacity and reduce energy waste.

The Asian Development Bank on Thursday signed a loan agreement of $231.31 million with the Vietnamese government to help build and upgrade the transmission networks in the southern region.

This is the third out of four assistance packages in an investment program approved for Vietnam by the Manila-based bank in 2011.

Country Director Eric Sidgwick said the bank’s program will help Vietnam tackle its shortage of power supply, an obstacle for economic growth that particularly affects rural and poor areas.

The project under this third loan will supplement 60 kilometers of 500 kV delivery line and 64 km of 220 kV delivery line, along with the additional 3,700 MVA in the southern transmission capacity. The loan has a lending term of 30 years, including seven years of favorable interest rates.

The bank is expected to approve the disbursement of the fourth loan in 2017.

The program as a whole, expected to complete in 2020, has focused on providing advanced technologies to power transmission networks, reducing energy waste and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

With the program, ADB has so far helped Vietnam build 1,200 km of 500kV delivery line, 670 km of 220kV delivery line, and transformer stations with a combined capacity of 10,000 MVA.

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