Tho made the announcement at a seminar held on Feb. 23 to publicise amaster plan for the sector, adopted by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungearly last month.
The 2012-15 period alone will requiretwo-thirds of the amount for maintaining, upgrading and expandingproduction as well as for implementing new investments.
Capital will be raised through sources including ownership capital, loans and the stock market, he said.
Tho explained that the plan is mapped out with the aim to exploit,process and utilise domestic coal reserves efficiently and economicallyto best serve home demand. It also aims to gradually reduce coal importratios and enable selective export.
According to Tho, theindustry plans to reach cross-sector merchandised coal yield of 55-58million tonnes in 2015, 60-65 million tonnes in 2020, and over 75million tonnes in 2030.
By 2030, as many as 47 new mineprojects will be built in the Dong Bac (North East) coal basin. Severalmines using underground coal gastification technology and withcapacities of 3 million tonnes per year, will be developed in the RedRiver Delta coal basin.
Twelve additional coal sorting andprocessing plants will be constructed by this time while peat andcoalmines in localities will be expanded.
Infrastructurefor production including electricity, roads, railroads, transportationsystems and conveyor belts would be upgraded. Nine coal export ports areto be improved and one built in Uong Bi, Hon Gai and Cam Pha districtsof northern Quang Ninh Province.
"The country's demand forcoal will increase significantly in the coming years," said EnergyDepartment Director Pham Manh Thang.
"The demand on coal power plants is very great."
Thang said the country will have about 46 operational coal powerfactories by 2020 consuming about 77 million tonnes of coal per year. Ofthe yearly needed volume, the nation can meet 29 million tonnes itselfwhile having to import 48 million.
"It's clear that weneed more solid import sources," he said, adding that the Government hadassigned the Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Corp to seek moreforeign suppliers.
It also tasked the ministry to buildmechanisms to stimulate private manufacturers to meet demand byinvesting in mines, associating with foreign partners and importing coalthemselves.
Thang said an important thing is to establish reasonable coal import and export prices.
"Price levels must ensure the general economic goals of the country while stimulating investors to do their business.
"This year we have to control the inflation rate at below 10 percentwhile continuing to work with the Ministry of Finance to balance ourgoals," he added.
Total national coal reserve wasestimated to be 48.7 billion tonnes at the beginning of last year, withabout 7.2 billion tonnes having been mobilised into master plans,according to Tho.
Tho noted that appropriate investment intechnology, the environment, labour safety and resource security isneeded for a sustainable industry, in addition to boosting internationalcooperation in exploring, processing and using coal./.