EQUIPMENT FOR VIETNAM'S LARGEST HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT TO BE DELIVERED FROM RUSSIA?

HANOI, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai signed a resolution yesterday confirming the project of construction of the country's largest hydroelectric power plant Song La in the country's north.

The Vietnamese Energy Corporation said Friday that the Song La plant with a design capacity of 2,400 MW will be built from 2005 to 2015. It will become the second and the largest power plant in the hydroenergy system on the Da river. The first one - hydroelectric power plant Hoa Binh, built with the help of the Soviet Union, now produces some 40% of Vietnam's energy.

A source in the Vietnamese energy corporation said power equipment for the Song La plant will be delivered from Russia.

Some $2.4 billion will be invested in the project. 80,000 local residents are now being moved to other locations from the area of the future construction. About $600 mln have been allocated for this, with half of the sum from the Vietnamese budget.