The new connections brought the number of ethnic minority households that had been connected to power under a Vietnam Electricity Group project in Lam Dong province to 10,000, Deputy Director of Electricity of Lam Dong (ELD), Nguyen Van Minh said.
“ELD plans to give another 10,000 households in the province electricity by the end of September and raise the total to 36,421 by mid-October,” Director of ELD, Nguyen Dang Hien said.
This is part of the Vietnam Electricity Group’s 1 trillion VND (60 million USD) project that began in May 2008 to give electric power to more than 110,000 ethnic minority households in 1,200 villages of five Central Highlands provinces – Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong.
Under the project, 2,465km of medium-voltage electricity networks, 2,724km of low-voltage networks, 1,242 transformer stations and 116,067 electrical meters are expected to be completed in the five provinces by the end of the year.
The Lam Dong component managed by ELD comprises 576km of medium-voltage electricity networks, 942km of low-voltage networks, 494 transformer stations and 36,421 electrical meters.
ELD had finished around 90 percent of the work, Minh said.
“We have basically finished installing power lines down the streets in the villages. Now we only need to connect the houses,” he said.
“Our hamlet has a total of 1,388 ethnic minority people in 248 households. The living was so hard without electricity,” village mayor Yang K’Nhung of hamlet 1, Tan Chau commune, Di Linh district, said. “They are all happy to switch on the electric lights on National Day.”
The electrification is part of a larger national project to provide power to ethnic minorities nationwide to help them eradicate hunger, alleviate poverty, improve living standards and promote socio-economic development./.