The Northern Vietnam Power Projects Management Board (NPMB) said it will start work of 15 power projects in 2017 to ensure power supply stability and prevent overloaded power transmissions to Hanoi and industrial zones in the region.

The overall cost is estimated at about VNĐ3.3 trillion (US$146.2 million).

Although Vietnam has made remarkable progress in its power sector over the last two decades--with the percentage of households without electricity decreasing from 50 per cent in 1995 to 2 per cent in 2014--the distribution of electricity is still uneven among regions. In regions with high power demand like the North or the South, overloading still occurs at some parts of the power grid.

This year includes some important projects, such as West Hanoi – Thường Tín 500kilovolt power transmission line, Nho Quan – Phủ Lý – Thường Tín 500/220kV transmission line and the 220kV transformer station Thanh Nghị, which will connect local power grid to the national one.

In 2017, the NPMB will also complete and bring into operation 24 other projects to supplement electricity in Hanoi and neighbouring provinces.

NPMB director Phan Lương Thiện said land clearance is considered crucial to implement the projects this year, as the issue have always been a major obstacle.

He said the projects will mostly be executed in Hanoi and the Nothern Delta, where land price tends to fluctuate and planning of localities is often adjusted.

Debating land price has caused land clearance delays, while defining land origins, owners, boundaries have also caused a lot of difficulties, Thiện said.

There remain gaps between Government and local compensation policies, which make it very time-consuming to explain to local people and address their demands, Thiện added.

Due to land clearance problems, all the scheduled projects were late in handing over land for construction work in 2016.

To ensure completion of the projects within this year, NPMB will proactively co-operate with local authorities to be updated about the problems and frequently assess the development of projects to find timely solutions once problems arise, Thiện said.