Construction of National Innovation Centre officially begins in Hanoi
	Vietnam Green Housing Program facilitating people’s access to affordable housing
	Vietnam begins construction on Long Thanh airport

Hoa Binh hydropower plant to have two new turbines

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre) and delegate at the ground-breaking ceremony. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

Construction of the expanded Hoa Binh hydropower plant began in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh on January 10, with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attending the ground-breaking ceremony, VGP reported.

The project involves construction of two new turbines with total capacity of 480MW and electricity output of about 488.3 million KWh per yer.

The first turbine is scheduled to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2024, and the second will come into service in the last quarter of the year.

After the expanded project is completed, the aforesaid power plants with total capacity of 6,000 MW will account for 30% of the nation’s electricity output.

Hoa Binh hydropower plant project started construction on 1979 and was put into full operation in 1994. Over the past decades, the plant has been seen as a symbol of not only the sustainable and good friendship between Vietnam and the former Soviet Union (now Russia), but also of the domestic electricity sector.

Covering an area of 99.62 hectares in Hoa Binh city, the expanded project is invested by the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) with a total funding of over VND 9.22 trillion (some US$398.9 million), 30% of which is arranged by EVN and the remaining 70% comes from commercial loans without a government guarantee

Addressing the event, PM Phuc said three power plants built in the Da River basin, namely Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant, Son La Hydropower Plant, and Lai Chau Hydropower Plant symbolize the country’s industrialization and modernization cause.

PM Phuc took the occasion to pay rich tributes to the great efforts and sacrifices of the 168 officers and engineers, including 11 Soviet experts who lost their lives during the construction of the power plant.

Upgraded runways in Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai airports put into use

First aircraft lands at runway 25R/07L of Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 10 afternoon (Photo: VNA)

The inauguration ceremony of the runway upgrade project at two busiest airports in the country, Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai was held in HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 10.

According to VNA, the upgrading project on Tan Son Nhat International Airport, started on June 29, 2020, has a total investment of over VND2 trillion (US$86 million). The upgrade is carried out in two phases, with the first lasting six months.

In the second phase, the project will upgrade five existing taxiways and build new rapid exit taxiways, connecting taxiways and parallel taxiways besides a drainage system, taxiway lights and aviation signboards. The second phase is expected to finish before December 31.

Meanwhile, the two-phase project to repair the Noi Bai runways kickstarted on June 29 with an estimated cost of about VND2.03 trillion (over US$87 million). The second phase, during which the runway 1A will be upgraded, is scheduled to be completed by the lunar New Year 2022.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said the two were particularly important projects considering the degradation of runways in the country's two largest airports.

He asked the Transport Ministry to direct units to ensure absolute security and safety for flights and promote efficiency of investments, and speed up the progress of the two projects’ second phases.

Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai are the two largest and most important airports of Vietnam. Since 2017 they have been chronically overloaded and handling new-generation aircraft with huge loads, which degraded the runways and taxiways.

The damage was evident from the visible cracks and deformation and subsidence of the asphalt surface since 2016.

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