The German Embassy pledged yesterday, Dec. 1 that the European country will provide an official development assistance (ODA) worth EUR120 million ($180 million) for an energy efficiency project in rural Vietnam. The funding will be delivered to Vietnamese side via the German Development Bank (KfW); and the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) will carry out the three-year project to upgrade the rural power grid, the Vietnam News Agency said. The project is aimed at improving and expanding the rural power grid; reducing electricity transmission losses caused by the old grid; improving power supply and safety; and ensure fair prices and good services for both rural and urban consumers. It will benefit 2.9 million households in 2,000 communes in 45 cities and provinces across Vietnam. By upgrading the electricity infrastructure, the project is expected to reduce the power losses to 15% from current 30% to save 400 million kWh of power per year, equivalent to between VND350 billion-VND400 billion ($18.933 million-$21.638 million) per annum. The financing contract is expected to be signed between the KfW and the Vietnamese government in early 2010.
