Central Highlands province wants to pull the plug on 4 hydropower plants

By Tran Hoa December 18, 2022 | 06:50 pm PT

Aerial view of a hydropower plant in Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands. Photo by VnExpress

The Central Highlands province of Kon Tum has called on the government to scrap plans for four hydropower plants saying they would have an adverse impact on forests.

Le Nhu Nhat, director of the province Department of Industry and Trade, said Saturday that following assessments, the department found that the plants, proposed to have a total capacity of 19.5MW, affect 56 ha of special-use forests.

One of the plants has even been awarded to a bidder, but the company wants to mine gold instead, he said.

Kon Tum has 81 hydropower plants approved, all small or medium-sized, with a combined capacity of 870MW. Of them 28 have been built.