Over 62 trillion VND needed to build power grids in the south   Illustrative photo (Photo:VNA) Can Tho - The Southern Power Corporation of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) needs over 62 trillion VND (2.79 billion USD) to carry out nine power transmission projects in the southern region and fulfil its rural electrification targets in 2016-2020.  Speaking at a conference in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on June 24, Deputy Director of the corporation Nguyen Phuoc Duc said the money will be sourced from the State budget, official development assistance (ODA) loans, domestic commercial lending, domestic preferential loans and advances from customers.  The projects include one to provide electricity to over 6,100 ethnic Khmer households in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, and another using loans from the German Development Bank to reduce emissions in energy supply.  It will also build a 110kV power line (152km) and a dozen of 110kV transformer stations, as well as carry out the third phase of a World Bank-funded project to support the development of electricity reform policy.  One project using loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will build medium and low voltage lines.  Other schemes involve upgrades to the power distribution network in small- and medium-sized cities across 21 southern localities, especially building and reinforcing the 110kV power grids, and upgrading and expanding medium and low voltage grids.  More than 5,800 km of medium voltage line along with over 9,000 km of low voltage line and nearly 511,000 MVA transformer stations will be constructed.  A project will be carried out to provide electricity for the island communes of Hon Thom and Son Hai, and Phu Quoc island district in Kien Giang province.  Additionally, the Southern Power Corporation will develop the power grid in remote and mountainous areas to meet the target on rural households’ access to electricity by 2020.  The company strives to supply efficient electricity for 21 cities and provinces in the south during 2016 and the following years, while ensuring an average power growth of 10.5-12 percent per year and a reduction in power cuts by 2020.  Close to 49.4 billion kWh of commercial electricity were supplied to 21 southern cities and provinces in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 10.74 percent.  In the first five months of this year, nearly 22 billion kWh of electricity were supplied, representing a yearly rise of 13.31 percent.  To ensure supply, the corporation invested over 18 trillion VND (810 million USD) to build power grids in the south between 2011-2015.-VNA