Mr Hai made the request while chairing a meeting of the State Steering Committee for the project in the northern province of Son La on January 9.

He was reported that around 1,900 households still remain in the plant’s site while 18,160 other households have already been relocated in resettlement areas.

Apart from resettlement issues, the Deputy PM also asked contractors to speed up installation of equipment and facilities needed for the plant to enable the Son La plant’s first turbine group to run in late 2010 as planned.

Getting off the ground in December 2005, the VND37 trillion plant is designed to have six turbine groups with a combined capacity of 2,400 MW.

Once operating at full steam in 2012, it will be the largest plant of its kind in Southeast Asia, generating 10.2 billion kWh a year.