HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc recently approved the adjustment and supplementation of the Việt Nam coal industry development plan until 2020, with a vision towards 2030.

Accordingly, the coal sector will invest in constructing new coal sorting factories by 2020, namely Vàng Danh 2, Khe Than, Khe Chàm and Lép Mỹ, with annual capacity of two million tonnes, 2.5 million tonnes, seven million tonnes and four million tonnes, respectively.

In addition, a centralised coal processing and warehouse centre will be built in the Hòn Gai region with capacity of some five million tonnes per year. The first module with annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes in Hà Khánh Commune will be built and operation of the Nam Cầu Trắng coal sorting factory will be maintained until the end of 2018. The factory will then be moved to the location of the centralised coal processing and warehouse centre to be installed as the second module with capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year.

The categories of some small-scale projects in the mines of Vàng Danh, Năm Mẫu, Suối Lai and Cọc Sáu, as well as Đèo Nai, Lộ Trí and Mông Dưong, will also be amended, alongside the categories of a number of infrastructure investment projects that serve coal industry development.

Earlier, under Decision No 403/QĐ-TTg, dated March 14, 2016, the PM ratified the adjustment of the development plan of Việt Nam’s coal industry until 2020 with a vision towards 2030, with the view to building the coal sector into a developed industry with high competitiveness and advanced technological standards in comparison with regional countries with regard to the steps of coal exploration, mining, sort out, processing and use, sufficiently satisfying domestic coal demand, especially for power generation.

A report from the Việt Nam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) revealed that in the first half of this year, coal output was estimated at some 20.6 million tonnes while coal inventory was 9.3 million tonnes.

The inventory is expected to be higher as the PM required Vinacomin to produce additional two million tonnes to contribute to the country’s GDP growth rate this year. — VNS