About 2,600 people living in Cu Lao Cham (Cham Island), off Quang Nam Province's Hoi An city, are expected to be provided electricity in October.

The electrification will take place through a submarine cable system under a project implemented by the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

Cham Island

The 485-billion VND (22.7 million USD) project is funded by the State budget and the EVN's Central Power Corporation. The industry and trade ministry approved the project in early February.

The project will include 15.5km of submarine cables, 30km of lines over land and eight transmission stations.

At a meeting this week to kick off the project, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Dinh Van Thu ordered the local authorised agencies to provide favourable conditions to the project's investor and contractor in implementing it.

The Hoi An city authority has been asked to support the project in land clearance activities, he said.

Thu also required the central power corporation to quickly select a location to build an electricity operations centre on the island, which is about 18 km off Hoi An City.

The islanders currently get electricity for only six hours a day through diesel generators, which is costly and inadequate for meeting the needs of daily life and production activities.