What do electricity industry representatives say?

TPO - Regarding the delay of some bridge and road projects in Ho Chi Minh City due to electricity poles, a representative of Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Corporation accepted part of the responsibility and pledged that the unit will coordinate with the locality and the transport sector in the coming time so that this situation will no longer occur.

TPO - Regarding the delay of some bridge and road projects in Ho Chi Minh City due to electricity poles, a representative of Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Corporation accepted part of the responsibility and pledged that the unit will coordinate with the locality and the transport sector in the coming time so that this situation will no longer occur.

Recently, a series of traffic projects in Ho Chi Minh City such as Ba Hom bridge, Tan Ky - Tan Quy road (Binh Tan district), Duong Quang Ham road (Go Vap district) are being slowly constructed due to technical infrastructure works (electricity poles).

Regarding this issue, on the afternoon of November 7, at the press conference on Ho Chi Minh City's socio -economic situation, Mr. Bui Trung Kien - Deputy General Director of Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Corporation gave feedback on this issue.

According to Mr. Kien, when relocating power lines, the electricity industry cannot abandon the existing power lines to make them underground, but must maintain the above-ground power grids. Only after the investment in the underground part is completed can the above-ground power grid be recovered.

“After handing over the site, the electricity industry still has to pull underground cables and install equipment on the sidewalk. Then we can move the connection and collect the poles,” said Mr. Kien.

Ho Chi Minh City traffic project behind schedule due to 'stuck' electric poles: What do electricity industry representatives say? photo 1

A series of traffic projects in Ho Chi Minh City are being slowly constructed due to electricity poles. Photo: Duy Anh

Regarding the Tan Ky - Tan Quy route, Mr. Kien said there were some problems in the process of handing over the site. Specifically, when implementing the relocation, some locations for transformer stations and cabinets and electric poles on the roadside did not receive the consensus of the people. After the agreement was reached, the relocation has now been basically completed.

“At the Ba Hom bridge project, 25/49 pillars have been recovered and 24 pillars are being considered for recovery. The recovery will be completed today, after which we will coordinate with relevant units to carry out the next steps. As for the Duong Quang Ham road project, more than 60% of the site has been handed over. The handover is not continuous but divided into sections, causing many difficulties. The work is expected to last until April 2025 to be completed,” Mr. Kien added.

Regarding the reason for the delay in undergrounding the power grid to implement the project, a representative of Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation said that the delay in handing over the site affected the progress of the power grid relocation. In addition, there was a need to wait for imported materials and equipment.

“We accept partial responsibility for the coordination. We commit to working with the local authorities and the transport sector to prevent this situation from happening again in the future,” said Mr. Kien.