Vietnam needs 20 billion U.S. dollars from now to 2010 to implement electricity production, transmission and distribution projects, local newspaper Pioneer reported on Wednesday.

Vietnam's electricity demand is estimated to annually grow 10- 15 percent in the 2007-2010 period, the newspaper quoted Dinh Quang Tri, vice general director of the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the country's biggest power producer and sole distributor, as saying.

He said the EVN wants to join hands with foreign partners to build power plants with capacity ranging from 100 MW to 2,000 MW.

To mobilize funds for power development, the EVN will equitize some hydroelectric plants, issue bonds, establish joint ventures, and list some equitized power plants in the Vietnamese stock market. It will equitize three plants in the second quarter of this year.

Source: Xinhua