(VOV) - The French Government has given 75 million Euros to a Vietnamese power transmission project linking the Central Highlands to Ho Chi Minh city. The agreement was signed in Hanoi on Thursday by Minister Delegate for Francophony Yamina Benguigui and Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Truong Chi Trung. The signing ceremony was attended by French Ambassador Jean-Noel Poirier, and French Development Agency (AFD) Director Jean-Marc Gravellini.

The aid will help Vietnam improve power generation capacity (Photo: dztimes)

The power transmission project, which is also funded by the AFD and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will run through five provinces and cities from the Central Highlands’ Gia Lai province to Ho Chi Minh City, a total distance of 437 km. The project will increase transmission capacity to 5,300 MW and help meet the southern region’s rising power demand during the dry season. It will also help raise revenue for the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) and optimize power generation capacity. The 500kV transmission line from Gia Lai’s Pleiku city to HCM City will be operational in 2015, enabling power imports from Cambodian and Laotion hydroelectric plants by 2018.