(VOVworld) – Quang Ninh, a mountainous province with a scattered population, has successfully brought electricity to its remote areas and islands. This has helped Quang Ninh develop more sustainably.  

Vietnam has been making efforts to electrify rural and remote areas. (Photo: evn.com.vn)

Quang Ninh has made rural electrification the foundation and driver of socio-economic development in the countryside, narrowing the development gap between areas.

Quang Ninh reached its target of giving all communes access to electric power in 2004, nine years ahead of schedule.

Le Thi Hai, a resident of Luc Hon commune in Binh Lieu district, expressed her joy that electricity has come to rural areas.

She added: “It’s unbelievable that we now have electricity. Life has changed a lot like a dream.”

Access to the national power grid has changed the lives of nearly 12,000 households in rural, remote, and disadvantaged areas and facilitated the development of agricultural production, processing and auxiliary industries.

Do Van Tien, a resident of Quan Lan village, said: “In the past, when we didn’t have power, we had to use power generators all day. It cost a lot. Our business has grown and life has improved since we gained access to the national electricity system. We are very happy.”

After the success of the first project, Quang Ninh set a bigger target of bringing power to all its island communes.

The construction of a 50-million-USD grid for Co To Island district began in 2013 and a similar project was carried out to bring electricity to five communes in Van Don district a year later with a total investment of about 15 million USD.

The completion of these two key projects has raised the percentage of Quang Ninh households on the national grid to 99.45%, according to Vu Dinh Tan, Deputy Director of the provincial Electricity Company.

“In 2012 the Electricity Company of Quang Ninh became the first in Vietnam to have completed the bringing of power to remote areas and was also the first company to successfully run a 22kV electricity cable under the sea. It’s a big source of pride for Quang Ninh’s electricity sector,” said Tan.