Sitting 185kilometres from Vung Tau city and 230 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City, Con Dao plays a significant role in socio-economic, defence andsecurity development in the country’s southern seas and islands.
It is also home to important tangible and intangible national culturalheritages presenting substantial potential to develop various forms oftourism such as ecological and spiritual tourism.
Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee Nguyen Van Dung listedthe necessary steps to fully tap the local tourism potential, includingbuilding green energy and sewage treatment systems along with improvingtransportation between the island district and the mainland andproviding sufficient electricity for residents.
In2013, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved the draftingof a master plan to develop Con Dao into a national tourist site through2030.
If the plan is approved by the PrimeMinister, the electricity sector will need to evolve alongside theprovincial socio-economic development, Dung said.
A diesel station is the current electricity provider for the Con Dao urban centre with a capacity of 3,680 kW.
With capital sourced from the Southern Power Corporation, the Con Daoelectricity sector plans to install two additional turbines, each with acapacity of 1,500 kW in 2015 and 2016, as the sector is currently onlysatisfying half of the power demands.
In February2015, the provincial People’s Committee gave the green light to aproject developing energy sources in Con Dao Island through2030.
Accordingly, the average commercial electricity growth is estimated at 23.4 percent between 2015 and 2020.
Diesel remains the major source of electricity, followed by liquefiednatural gas (LNG) and other renewable energy sources such as wind andsolar power.
The total estimated cost for developingthe power network in Con Dao is about 2.6 trillion VND (122 millionUSD), including the construction of a 65.4 MW power plant in 2030 and a43 MG power plant within 2015-2020.
There are alsotwo electricity projects worth a combined of 645 billion VND (30.2million USD) with investment licenses, namely the 4 MG Con Dao windpower plant and the 5 MG Con Dao solar power.
Ba Ria– Vung Tau is working with the Con Dao Island’s People’s Committee tocall for domestic and foreign investment to develop infrastructure andconnect the Con Dao urban centre with other islands.-VNA