LookAtVietnam – Medium and small enterprises in HCMC are having trouble accessing funds to deploy energy conservation activities due to the high requirements for borrowing money, said an official of the HCMC Energy Conservation Center (ECC).

Huong said that under the 2006-2010 energy saving program, enterprises are guaranteed loans for 75% of the capital needed for carrying out energy saving activities but that few have been able to access the funds.

“Last year 15 enterprises applied for loans but only three got them,” Huong told the Daily on the sidelines of a seminar on energy saving in industrial production at Tan Tao Industrial Park in Binh Chanh District last week.

According to the national program that aims to help 500 SMEs to save energy, enterprises are guaranteed loans of between VND80 million and VND2 billion to deploy energy saving activities.

Huong said that few enterprises have been given loans because of high interest and having to use their own properties as security equaling 25% of the investment.

Huong refused to say how many SMEs succeeded in getting loans.

Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade is managing the funds for the program which also aims at helping SMEs in brick production, pottery, paper, pulp and cooking processing to save energy.

According to the ECC, 140 SMEs in the country have joined this program and many of them have cut their energy costs by 50%.

Huynh Chi Dung of the HCMC Electric Company told the Tan Tao Industrial Park seminar that the city last year economized 220 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to 1.6% of the city’s total power consumption last year.

“The city saved VND240 billion,” Dung said. He added that the company will continue free consultation for another 100 enterprises to teach them how to save energy this year after consulting with 100 enterprises last year.

Some 150 enterprises at three industrial parks, Le Minh Xuan, Vinh Loc and Tan Tao, joined the seminar to learn how to save energy.

The seminar was organized by HCMC Export Processing in Industrial Zones Authority and by the HCMC Energy Conservation Center.

VietNamNet/SGT