Trung Nam Krong No 2 Hydropower Project
“The projects were all granted electricity operation licenses by the Electricity Regulatory Authority (Ministry of Industry and Trade) before being put into operation and the two plants have fully fulfilled their tax obligations to the State, paying more than VND261 billion to the local budget in the past 8 years,” said a representative of this enterprise, affirming that the information and records of shortcomings in acceptance documents as reported by the newspapers are the situation that other enterprises are also facing, especially energy projects in provinces such as Lam Dong, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, etc.
Trung Nam Krong No 2 and Krong No 3 Hydropower Projects have been built and have been operating stably for many years now. These two projects have been completed and have all the necessary documents, including: Electricity Operation License No. 79/GP/DTDL dated August 24, 2017; 158/GP/DTDL in 2018; No. 193/GP/DTDL dated August 30, 2021 for Krong No 2 Hydropower Plant and License No. 85/GP/DTDL dated June 2, 2016; 41/GP/DTDL dated May 11, 2017 for Krong No 3 Hydropower Plant meet all conditions under the terms of the PPA contract signed with EVN.
The projects were also granted electricity operation licenses by the Electricity Regulatory Authority (Ministry of Industry and Trade) before being put into operation. These two projects have fully performed their tax obligations to the state every year and have been audited by competent authorities.
Previously, the document of Lam Dong Department of Industry and Trade No. 1856/SCT-TTr stated that "The Department of Industry and Trade has reviewed and discovered that there are 4 hydropower units operating in the province, including Cao Nguyen - Song Da Hydropower Company (Investor of Yan Tann Sien Hydropower Plant), Bong Lai Hydropower Joint Stock Company (Investor of Da Chomo 2 Hydropower Plant), Da Dang 3 Hydropower Joint Stock Company (Investor of Da Dang 3 Hydropower Plant and Dam Bri Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Investor of Dam Bri Hydropower Plant) with the act of "Putting construction items or power projects into operation and use without a document approving the acceptance results of the competent state management agency according to the provisions of the Law" stipulated in Point d, Clause 4, Article 6 of Decree No. 134/2013/ND-CP dated October 17, 2013 of the Government (supplemented in Clause 9, Article 2 of Decree No. 17/2022/ND-CP dated January 31, 2022).
In recent years, the Krong No 2 and 3 Hydropower projects have contributed more than 1.1 billion kWh of electricity to the grid, contributing to the goal of ensuring national energy security.
According to the representative of Trung Nam Hydropower, the reason for the violation was that before Decree No. 17/2022/ND-CP dated January 31, 2022 took effect, Decree No. 134/2013/ND-CP dated October 17, 2013 of the Government did not stipulate penalties for this act, so businesses were subjective and lacked research to complete the procedures for sending documents requesting competent state agencies to inspect the acceptance work and issue documents approving the results of the acceptance of hydropower projects before putting them into operation.
Regarding the construction inspection and acceptance, according to regulations before 2022, this is not a mandatory requirement, therefore, the supplement of this document is taking place, the enterprise has deployed survey activities, completed legal procedures and invited the Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy to arrange personnel, arrange time to check documents and the site to soon have a document approving the acceptance of the Krong No 2 & 3 hydropower project in June 2023.
According to Document No. 621/DL-TD of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Department of Energy and Renewable Energy) on the inspection and acceptance of these two projects, the Department of Energy and Renewable Energy has also requested to review and compare the contents prescribed in legal documents for timely implementation, reporting to competent authorities for consideration and handling according to regulations. From there, urgently issue a written report on the implementation status of the projects with related records and documents to serve and inspect the acceptance work to put the projects into use for consideration in accordance with the provisions of law.
"During the implementation process, we always comply with the provisions of law and the guidance of competent authorities. In recent years, the Krong No 2 and 3 Hydropower projects have contributed more than 1.1 billion kWh of electricity to the grid, contributing to the goal of ensuring national energy security", a representative of the Trung Nam Krong No Hydropower Joint Stock Company added.
According to the Government newspaper