This Tet, highland villages no longer have to light oil lamps
Celebrating the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024, the joy of 30 households in Lung Peng hamlet, Huy Giap commune (Bao Lac, Cao Bang) will be multiplied because the national grid has been connected from 24 November 2023.
System supplying national power grid to Hon Tre island commune, Kien Hai district, Kien Giang province. Photo: Huynh Lanh
Now, the provinces of Lao Cai, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Tra Vinh, Hau Giang, Ca Mau, Kien Giang, etc, have been connected to the national power grid. Electricity not only connects to the mountains but also crosses the waves, reaching far out to the islands. Starting from Cat Hai Island (Hai Phong) in 1991, the journey to overcome waves and supply electricity to the island of Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has reached island districts of all regions of the country, such as Co To (Quang Ninh), Ly Son (Quang Ngai), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) and Truong Sa island district (Khanh Hoa)... To date, 11/12 island districts and 100% of island communes nationwide have been connected to the national power grid.
Target of removing no-electricity village
In 1997, the national power grid was supplied to 426/470 districts, reaching a rate of 90.6%; 63.2% of communes; 50.76% of rural households nationwide; and more than 30 million people still do not have access to electricity. By 2010, the whole country had 100% of districts connected to the national electricity grid, in 2018, 100% of communes connected to the national electricity grid, and by 2019, 99.47% of households connected to the national electricity grid, of which 99.18% of rural households connected to the national electricity grid. By the end of 2020, nationwide, 99.3% of rural households access to electricity. According to EVN’s Vice President Vo Quang Lam, power supply in island districts, and remote areas across the whole country is always a challenging issue for EVN. However, this is an important political task that EVN focuses on implementing. Because successful implementation of this task not only contributes to developing the economy, creating motivation for hunger eradication and poverty reduction, and improving the material and spiritual life of the people, but also contributes to achieving justice and social security, strengthening the great solidarity between nations, maintaining political stability, national defense, security, and protect the sovereignty of the Fatherland's territory, seas and islands.
In fact, in many remote and border areas, people often live sparsely. There are power supply projects that extend tens of kilometers for only a few dozen households to use. Electricity bills/households are sometimes less than VND 20,000/month, while to collect money, electricity workers have to travel half a day to get there, so balancing economic efficiency with the electricity industry is difficult.
The national power grid has reached out, connecting many of the most remote villages, with the desire to improve people's economic lives and create motivation for economic development. However, by the end of 2020, nationwide there were still about 0.7% of rural households without access to electricity. Although the number of rural households needing electricity is not high, these are especially difficult cases because they are located in the most remote areas of the country. Along with that, the number of households living sparsely and scattered, located too far from the national power grid, so investing in power supply has high costs, and high investment rates, and it is difficult to mobilize and regulate capital sources for synchronous investment, evenly spread among regions. However, identifying this as one of the particularly important political tasks assigned by the Party and State, the Electricity sector is making its best efforts with the Target of removing no-electricity villages, so that no one is left behind.