ADB lends $310 mln to Vietnam Mekong Delta power plant

News - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday it has approved a $309.9 million loan for a new power plant in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, the country's production hub for rice, fish and shrimp and other agro-products.

The construction of the 750-megawatt gas-fired O Mon IV plant is to be completed by June 2016 and is projected to cost $793.5 million, the ADB said in a statement.

The plant is located outside the southern city of Can Tho, considered the capital of the Mekong Delta in the country's south. The ADB described the southern region as "energy-starved".

Germany's KfW will contribute $370 million and state utility Vietnam Electricity group and the Vietnamese government will provide $113.6 million, the statement said.

Vietnam's power consumption has been growing 15 percent a year over the past decade, and will continue rising at a double-digit pace in the near future, the bank said.

Vietnam will need around $48.8 billion from now until 2020 to build power plants and bring generation capacity to 75,000 megawatts, according to the government's electricity master plan through 2020.