Vietnam-Russia speed up progress of Ninh Thuan nuclear power project

On the afternoon of July 17, a delegation of the Russian State Duma Energy Committee led by Mr. Sergei Georgeevic Levchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Duma Energy Committee, First Secretary of Irkurck Province and Chairman of the Friendship Parliamentarians Group with Vietnam, had a working session with the leaders of Ninh Thuan Province to discuss measures to speed up the progress of the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant construction project.

Mr. Levchenko said that the construction progress of Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant by Rosatom Group is too slow and the objective reason is from the two countries.

According to the agreement between the two countries, capital will be disbursed for the construction of the factory in 2014, and the financial issue has been planned by the Russian side.

However, the technical design issue has not yet been signed, making it difficult to sign the next steps. In addition, it is not known which agency will manage the project and which department will build the auxiliary works to serve the factory, making it difficult to disburse capital. Therefore, the Vietnamese side has not prepared a warehouse to receive construction materials, or selected a construction site for accommodation and meals for experts and workers when they come to work.

Ninh Thuan Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Chi Dung said that currently, the province has completed the work of compensation, site clearance, and investment preparation, and the consensus of the people in the project area is very high. If the project is slow to implement, the people in the project area will certainly be very worried and hesitant, and this will not be beneficial for the project in the future.

Mr. Dung emphasized the need to start construction soon; at the same time, he said that in the immediate future, it is necessary to find a way to resettle people so that they can live in peace in their new homes. Russian consulting units need to focus on clearly defining the location and construction boundaries so that Ninh Thuan can have a direction for migration and choose a location to build a resettlement area for people.

In response, Mr. Levchenko said that the Russian Parliament has urged design consultants to focus on speeding up the progress to disburse capital and carry out the project. The construction of a nuclear power plant requires a lot of experts and labor force to serve the construction. Currently, the university in Voronhez province - where the nuclear power plant is operating - is ready to sign a cooperation relationship with Ninh Thuan in training human resources to serve the plant.

Also at the meeting, the Secretary of the Ninh Thuan Provincial Party Committee also expressed his wish that Russia would introduce more investors from this country to Ninh Thuan to seek investment opportunities, especially in some areas where Ninh Thuan has great potential, and at the same time create conditions for Ninh Thuan to bring goods produced in the province to penetrate the Russian market./.

According to (TTXVN) - LT