Vietnam inaugurates SEA's longest undersea cable system

The 110-KV Ha Tien-Phu Quoc undersea cable system was inaugurated on Thursday, which connects the island in southern Kien Giang province to the national electricity grid, local media reported. The ceremony was attended by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who congratulated Phu Quoc district's residents and authorities on successfully implementing the island's biggest project so far, according to local online VNExpress. The system, the longest in Southeast Asia to date, stretches 57. 33km from Thuan Yen village in Ha Tien town to Phu Quoc district' s Ham Ninh village. It includes two 110/22KV-40MVA transformers in Ha Tien and Phu Quoc. The system's over 2.3 trillion VND (110 million U.S. dollars) budget came from a World Bank loan and corresponding capital supplied by Electricity of Vietnam's Southern Power Corporation ( EVN SPC). Installation was completed after two months by the Italian contractor Prysmian, just in time to begin operation on the occasion of the 2014 Lunar New Year holiday. Kien Giang provnce's 2020 socio-economic development master plan aims to make Phu Quoc Island into a special administrative- economic zone by the end of the decade, serving as a national and international center for high-end ecotourism and entertainment, and particularly significant in terms of security and national defense.