Director of Central Power Project Management (CPMB) Nguyễn Đức Tuyển. VNA/VNS Photo

Director of Central Power Project Management (CPMB) Nguyễn Đức Tuyển speaks to Vietnam News Agency about the progress on the 500kV Vân Phong-Vĩnh Tân transmission line project - a key urgent project for Việt Nam this year.

The 500kV Vân Phong-Vĩnh Tân transmission line project has started to pull the wire, but the remaining workload is very large. What does the wire pulling mean for the project's progress?

So far, the project has handed over all 304 foundation positions. More than 256 of 304 pole spacings along the project corridor were handed over and poles were built at 176 positions. This is a necessary and sufficient condition to deploy the wire pulling.

The wire pulling is the final segment of the transmission line project. Parties, especially the project management, the Government, ministries, branches and localities and Vietnam Electricity (EVN) have been making efforts to speed up the project.

Currently, the central region is in the dry season, so it is suitable and convenient to pull wire. The wire pulling progress is in line with the operation plan of the Naional Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) but has not met the CPMB's plan due to being seriously affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China's zero COVID-19 policy.

Some units whose progress is slower than the operating plan need to try harder to realise the plan as soon as possible.

How do you evaluate the involvement of ministries, branches, local People's Committees and construction units in this project?

Given the urgent nature of the project, ministries, branches, People's Committees of Ninh Thuận and Khánh Hòa provinces, departments, agencies and commune-level local authorities have paid attention to directing and handling procedures from the project's implementation stage. For the conversion of forests, the People's Committees of the provinces have accelerated the completion of an investment proposal in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in the localities. Ministries and branches also urgently verified and appraised to submit to the Prime Minister.

Within 90 days, the Prime Minister approved the proposal on changing the forest use purpose. On that basis, the People's Committees of Khánh Hòa and Ninh Thuận provinces issued relevant decisions to change the purpose of using forest land for the project, creating favourable conditions for contractors to carry out the construction.

For site clearance compensation, seeing the importance of the project in transmitting power generated by the Vân Phong 1 BOT Thermal Power Plant and renewable energy sources in the two provinces, the Provincial People's Committee Khánh Hòa and Ninh Thuận discussed measures to remove obstacles and difficulties in implementation, as well as promote compensation for site clearance to hand over the project construction site.

Many policies related to compensation for site clearance were considered, discussed and resolved by the provinces, such as support to limit the use of land in the corridor and support for those in affected areas.

The People's Committees of districts and towns can speed up the approval of payment for site clearance compensation. The People's Committees of the districts organised working groups to review the site clearance even during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Due to the urgency of the project, the local Land Fund Development Centres assessed and recommended preliminary compensation for affected households. The centres coordinated with the People's Committees of the provinces, communes, CPMB, and households to receive advance money to hand over the construction site. After the plan is approved, the compensation will be paid to households according to regulations.

When the work is sped up, local authorities closely coordinate with CPMB and contractors to solve problems arising in the work of pulling wire. The constructors have been aware of the importance of the project right from the bidding stage. Immediately after winning the bidding in 2021, the constructors mobilised all resources, even though the country was struggling against the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic at that time.

The constructors also actively ordered construction materials, especially construction steel, even before receiving advance costs, avoiding the price fluctuations that have been continuously increasing from the end of 2021.

What are the major difficulties you face during the construction process? Are you confident that the project will be completed before December 26, 2022?

The construction progress of the project has closely followed the schedule. Right now, the progress of the project is very positive and we fully believe that the projects will be completed and connected to the national grid before December 26, 2022.

Besides the positive results that we have achieved, there are still many potential risks that could seriously affect the goals and progress of the projects. We always pay close attention to controlling, assessing and managing risks during implementation. It can be said that the anomalous weather of 2022 is the most worrying thing. It is forecast that from about October to November 2022, the central coastal areas, the Central Highlands and the South will see increasing rainfall.

To overcome this difficulty, we have asked constructors to transport and gather all materials at the construction site right now. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen human resources to carry out a series of items. We planned to complete the wire pulling in September, particularly for the positions on rugged mountainous terrain with travel difficulties in rainy season weather. The remaining positions will be completed in October 2022.

Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict situation and China's zero COVID-19 policy that has greatly affected the supply of materials and equipment, we have worked closely with suppliers to control equipment supplies as well as international shipping plans.

If there is a bidding package that is behind schedule, air freight is preferred to shorten the delivery time with the goal of not letting the construction units postpone work due to a slow supply of materials and equipment.

The 500kV Vân Phong-Vĩnh Tân transmission line has many cross-sections with the lines of renewable energy plants. In prolonged hot weather, it is difficult to cut power for construction. We have closely coordinated with related units to develop the most optimal construction plan to minimise both the length of power outages and output reduction of renewable energy plants. VNS