Ministry seeks to hasten US$1.8 billion coal-fired project

A view of Thai Binh 2 coal-fired power project.

According to Vietnam Economic Times, Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade, has mapped out the working schedule aimed to deal with the delayed project. Tuan revealed that up to 83 per cent of the project’s work volumes have so far been completed.

“We have no reason to have the loss of assets and financial resources, especially as there are favorable conditions to finalize the project”, the minister said.

He stressed the need to team up with the Committee for Management of State Capital, other relevant ministries, agencies, and Thai Binh province.

The total capital needed for the Thai Binh 2 coal-fired power project amounted to VND41 trillion (US$1.84 billion) in the wake of some investment adjustments. The project, invested by the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), has been designed with a capacity of 1,200 MW.

The ministry has sent a document to the Prime Minister reporting that up to VND31.2 trillion (US$1.40 billion) has been disbursed for the project, equivalent to 82 per cent.

The work is expected to finish by 2020, roughly between 55 and 57 months later than planned.

PetroVietnam had previously reported an array of shortcomings and obstacles as the main causes leading to the delayed progress.

As noted, the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC), the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction contractor, lacked experience in working on coal-fired power plants. Additionally, its poor financial capacity forced the contractor to fail to ensure payments and make advances for the items completed by subcontractors.

In fact, the PVC reportedly misused VND1.115 trillion (US$50.24 million) of temporary payments, thus causing a shortfall of payments needed to implementing other project items.