Removing obstacles for the 1.4 billion USD power project

​(News Portal – Dong Nai) – In 2024, the Nhon Trach Power Plant project will begin generating electricity for commercial purposes. However, the land bank for implementing items, transmission lines, and electricity purchase prices are still facing obstacles. 

Nhon Trach 3 and 4 Power Plant Projects under construction 

Resolving problems regarding land, planning, and electricity prices is currently an urgent matter. Nhon Trach 3 and 4 Power Plants are key national energy projects that have had their investment policies approved by the Prime Minister. According to the plan, these projects will generate commercial electricity in November 2024 and May 2025, respectively. At present, the project has implemented about 75% of the workload, but there are still many problems remain.

Nhon Trach 3 and 4 Power Plant Project has a total area of about 48 hectares. Currently, the investor has been directly allocated land about 11 hectares, and is requesting to be allocated an additional 30 hectares, the remaining land clearance has not been completed.

Currently, these projects are closely following the construction progress as committed to the Government and Power Plan VIII. However, due to many obstacles, there is a risk of slower commercial power generation, wasting businesses' investment resources and clean power sources. ​

Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Thai Thanh Phong said that Nhon Trach 3 and 4 Power Plants were the first power projects using LNG fuel in Vietnam located in the province, contributing to ensuring power sources for the province and the region. However, these projects are facing multiple obstacles: land allocation and land lease for construction; negotiation for industrial park infrastructure rental prices; as well as electricity purchase prices. The slower these problems are resolved, the more they will affect the efficiency of the project, waste electricity, and increase operating costs when no electricity is generated.

Regarding the unit responsible for electricity distribution, the representative of the National Power Transmission Corporation said that currently 4 power connection lines had not been approved for investment policy and had not been approved by investors. Meanwhile, there are less than 5 months until Nhon Trach 3 Power Plant generates electricity for the first time (May 9, 2024), about 10 months until official commercial operation (November 15, 2024). Therefore, there is a high chance of failing to ensure the progress of capacity release for the project. This needs more efforts and attention from the government and investors.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Phi stressed the importance of this project, which would contribute to ensuring national energy, so the province really wanted the project to come into operation soon. Recently, the province has held many meetings with relevant parties to resolve arising problems. At the same time, the province also has recommendations to the Government to allow adjustments to the local planning of Nhon Trach new urban area to facilitate the deployment of power grid infrastructure. However, the implementation process still has problems related to planning, land allocation, and site clearance.

Provincial leaders requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to urgently advise the Provincial People's Committee on land allocation plans (allocating 30 hectares of land in the second phase directly to power project investors or to industrial park infrastructure business units), in each option must be carefully analyzed for the pros and cons. On this basis, the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee will seek the opinion of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee for consideration and decision. Any solution that is quick and follows legal regulations will be given priority.  

Regarding infrastructure rental costs, Tin Nghia Corporation and PV Power should agree on the price, harmonizing the interests of businesses and the State. Once the price is agreed upon, the power project investor will have favorable conditions in the process of transporting project construction materials, constructing factory cooling water discharge sewers, and constructing power grid lines through the industrial park.