Untie the knot to bring electricity to the highlands soon

The Provincial Electricity Company will supply electricity to the border village of Nam Ngật, Thanh Thuy commune in early 2024.

Many electrical works are not in use.

Over the past years, the provincial Party Committees and authorities have made efforts to mobilize all resources to develop the national power grid to the highland villages. However, there are still 48 rural low-voltage power projects invested in and built with State capital, although they have been completed for many years, they have not been energized.

Local people are still waiting. Typically, Thong Nguyen commune has 6/23 villages including Pac Peng, Lung Ly, Xuan Thanh, Phin Trai, Lang Cang and Nam Chang with nearly 400 households that have not used the national grid. All transformer stations and 0.4 kV power lines invested by the Quang Binh District Construction Investment Management Board (old) although completed have not been energized for many years.

Lung Ly village has 43 households of Pa Then ethnic group - one of the 16 ethnic groups with the smallest population in the country, so social security policies receive special attention from the Party and the State. However, people have to overcome the electricity shortage by installing mini electricity and water from small streams for daily life.

Mr. Liu Van Minh, Lung Ly village, Thong Nguyen commune shared: "For nearly 6 years now, the electricity project has been brought to the village, the lines run all the way to the houses, but I don't understand why people still can't use it. My house used to have a mini electricity and water system, but it was washed away by floodwaters. Now we have to use oil lamps."

Lung Cau village transformer station, Ban May commune was completed more than 5 years ago but has not yet been energized.

Without national grid electricity, Lung Ly school and Thong Nguyen kindergarten, although built spaciously, the lighting system and ceiling fans serving 36 children are also left unused. Teacher Nguyen Thi Duyen shared that the equipment used to cook boarding meals such as refrigerators, rice cookers, and filters are not working, forcing us to travel dozens of kilometers to the main school every day to bring meals to the students.

Having electricity means lighting up the hope of change in remote villages, helping people access science and technology and apply it to production, improving their lives. In Phung Ca village, Ban May commune, there are 126 La Chi ethnic households living, of which 56 are still poor. Because they want to develop the economy , many families have erected bamboo and wooden poles, and pulled wires from the main meter in the neighboring village with a transmission line of nearly 5 km.

Meanwhile, the electricity project to the village was completed in 2020 but the people have not yet used it. Mr. Vang Seo Ly, Head of Phung Ca village, emphasized: "The village has repeatedly requested to connect electricity early through meetings with voters. The local government has also promised many times but the situation has not been resolved."

The remaining shortcomings

Rural electricity projects in Ha Giang province (old) were invested in and built from many programs and capital sources, such as: Sub-project on electricity supply to remote areas, ethnic minority areas without national grid, phase I; sub-project on rural electricity supply from the national grid, phase 2018-2020 sponsored by the EU; rural electricity supply from the national grid - using ODA capital, preferential loans; National target program on rural mountainous areas and islands, phase 2016-2020...

These projects have more than 230 construction sites, supplying electricity to 298 villages and hamlets. According to Decision No. 381 dated March 5, 2019, the People's Committee of Ha Giang province (old) approved and assigned the Provincial Management Board of Industrial and Civil Construction Investment and the People's Committees of the districts as investors. Up to now, many projects have been completed but have not been handed over to the electricity sector for receipt and operation.

People use mini generators for daily activities.

Mr. Vu Hong Quang, Head of the Quang Binh Regional Electricity Management Team, said: Through inspections of rural low-voltage power projects in the area, the main reason for the delay in energizing many projects is that the quality of some items has not met the requirements, such as the grounding index, lightning protection system and porcelain beams have not been guaranteed to be safe. In addition, the failure to complete the handover and land recovery documents at the locations of the power poles has also caused the progress of putting the project into use to be delayed.

Not only in the highlands but also in Ha Giang 2 ward, although the investment has been completed for 5 years, up to now, 2 projects supplying electricity for daily life in Lung Giang A, Lung Giang B, Ban Man, Lung Chau, Lung Cang villages, old Phong Quang commune (a commune meeting the New Rural standards) have not been energized.

Comrade Dao Manh Phu, Head of the Economic - Infrastructure and Urban Department of Ha Giang 2 Ward, said: The main reason why the villages of the old Phong Quang commune have not yet been electrified is due to problems in site clearance and completion of handover documents. Currently, the local government is coordinating with relevant units to review all documents and thoroughly handle the existing problems regarding land and power grid safety corridors. After completion, the ward will hand over to the investor to soon put the project into operation and supply electricity to serve people's lives.

The delay in handing over power projects not only makes the lives of many ethnic minority households difficult, but also poses many risks. As a locality often affected by natural disasters, if the projects have not been handed over, damage and collapse are inevitable. This situation not only causes difficulties in the acceptance and operation process but also leads to waste of State investment resources.

Comrade Phan Kim Cuong, Head of the Technical Department of the Provincial Power Company, added: “Many power projects in the province are slow to be accepted due to existing technical defects. During the coordination of inspection and acceptance, the Power Company and related units pointed out many shortcomings that made the project unqualified for energization. However, the process of correcting errors between the investor and the construction unit is very slow, with some projects taking a whole month, even up to half a year to complete.”

Efforts to remove bottlenecks

Along with the efforts of the local government, the electricity sector has deployed many synchronous solutions to achieve the province's goals. Since the beginning of the term, the local government and the Provincial Electricity Company have focused on integrating many resources to invest in the construction of rural electricity projects. A series of projects have been deployed with the goal of bringing electricity to every household in the highland villages. At the same time, the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress specifies the goal that by the end of 2025, all border villages will have access to the national grid.

Comrade Nguyen Doan Giang Binh, Deputy Director of the Provincial Electricity Company, shared: "In 2024 alone, the old Ha Giang Electricity Company carried out 33 power projects, of which 15 projects were completed and energized to serve the people; the number of border villages with national grid electricity is 123/134 villages, reaching 99.19%".

According to Decree No. 272/2025/ND-CP, for the period 2026 - 2030, the criterion of "the rate of households with electricity purchase contracts below 90%" is used as one of the bases to determine particularly difficult villages. However, in the province, there are still 48 villages that have been invested in and completed but have not yet been electrified. This prolonged situation has made the daily life, production and access to information of people in the highlands difficult. Hopefully, authorities at all levels and the electricity sector will continue to coordinate to soon resolve difficulties and obstacles for the common benefit of the people.

Comrade Hoang Duc Tien
Deputy Director of Department of Industry and Trade

Strive for 100% of villages and hamlets to have electricity by 2030

Currently, in the province, there are still many completed and operational power projects but the assets have not been handed over to the Electricity sector, or the construction has been completed but the power has not been turned on. The main reason is that the investors have not completed the legal documents, especially the land documents and have encountered problems in site clearance, making the projects not eligible for acceptance and handover according to regulations. The Department of Industry and Trade has advised the Provincial People's Committee to direct departments, branches, localities and investors to urgently review and supplement the documents; coordinate to remove difficulties; and at the same time speed up the progress of acceptance, energization and handover of projects to the Electricity sector according to regulations.

In addition, the Department of Industry and Trade has also promoted the plan to develop rural electricity. The Department of Industry and Trade has coordinated with relevant agencies to develop investment plans, upgrade and expand the power grid, ensuring stable, safe and continuous electricity. In the period of 2026 - 2030, the total investment is expected to be nearly 3,186 billion VND to build, upgrade and renovate more than 3,418 km of medium voltage lines, 878 transformer stations with a total capacity of 196,150 kVA, serving villages and hamlets that already have electricity but the quality is not guaranteed.

Comrade Le Kien
Chairman of Viet Lam Commune People's Committee

Facilitate investment in projects

Viet Lam commune currently has 5 villages without electricity, namely Nam Than, Nam Chang, Ban Chang, Khuoi Hop and Nam Ngan, with nearly 500 households not using the national grid. The lack of electricity has greatly affected the lives and livelihoods of the people, especially the lack of access to information criteria in the commune's poverty reduction goal. Many households still have to use oil lamps, mini generators or solar panels for lighting, but the cost is high and the efficiency is low, not meeting the needs of daily life and production.

Currently, the commune is conducting a status check, specifically counting the number of households lacking electricity, power lines, and transformer stations that need investment to propose to the relevant levels and sectors to pay attention, invest, and bring electricity to the village, helping the people in the highlands feel secure in production, increase income, escape poverty, and stabilize their lives. The commune creates all favorable conditions when electricity projects are implemented in the area.

Comrade Tran Xuan Hao
Deputy Director of Tuyen Quang Electricity Company

Proactively remove obstacles

The biggest difficulty currently facing Tuyen Quang Electricity Company is site clearance. Rural power supply projects are long, passing through many communes, owned by many households and different organizations, making the process of mobilizing and handing over the site take a lot of time, directly affecting the construction progress. On the other hand, in the context of merging provinces and implementing 2-level local government, the process of handing over the project from the old investor to the Electricity sector encountered some procedural problems, affecting the progress of receiving and energizing.

Faced with these challenges, the Company proactively implemented many synchronous solutions. In particular, closely coordinating with functional agencies, investors and local authorities to unify the asset handover process, in accordance with the new organizational model; supporting the completion of documents and handling outstanding technical issues to shorten the time of receiving the project. While waiting for the completion of power grid projects, in remote areas or areas with low telecommunication waves, the Company coordinated with relevant units to install field BTS stations and use backup generators, ensuring continuous power supply for telecommunication stations, administrative headquarters and people's daily activities, serving socio-economic development.

Mr. Lee Qingming
Lung Muoi village, Quan Ba commune

Hope to have electricity soon

The whole village has 142 households, but up to now, 98 households have not used the national grid. Without electricity, our lives face many difficulties, especially in daily life and production. Some households have built solid houses, but because they do not have electricity, they are still considered poor or near-poor households. I really hope that the State will soon invest in bringing the national grid to the village so that people can develop their economy, escape poverty, and their children can study more conveniently.

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/kinh-te/202511/go-nut-that-som-dua-dien-luoi-ve-vung-cao-4d17164/