VietNamNet Bridge – Power cuts have caused serious losses to industries in Ba Ria – Vung Tau and to the tourism sector in the Nha Trang region.

In Ba Ria-Vung Tau, southeast of HCM City, steel producers and seacooking processors complain that power cuts have reduced productivity and slowed delivery of goods to customers. Because of this, they say, they are incurring penalties and losing contracts.

Hotels and restaurants in Vung Tau City are running up high bills as they run generators to keep the lights on. Hotel director Nguyen Van Ban relates that his hotel has had to use diesel generators to supply power for 100 rooms, restaurants and other services, using over $2000 worth of fuel in June alone. Even during the weekends, power has been cut.

In Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa), the peak tourism season is underway, but hotels there have also been hit hard by rotating outages. On some days, they’ve been without power 6 am until 10 pm. At the Green Hotel on Hung Vuong street, staff say that on days without power, the hotel has had to pay 5.5 million dong to run diesel generators.

The Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee has appealed to Prime Minister Dung, asking that the Government instruct Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) group and its Southern Power Corporation subsidiary to supply more power to the province.

The Khanh Hoa provincial Party Committee, meanwhile, has sent a dispatch urging the Politburo, the Party Secretary and the Prime Minister to investigat EVN’s power cut policy. The dispatch argues that Khanh Hoa contributes a high level of revenues to the budget, so it is unfair when electricity is doled out to provinces on an egalitarian basis.

PV