China yesterday started supplying electricity to Viet Nam through a cross-border 220 kilovolt power transmission line.

The line, expected to supply 110-130 million kilowatt hours of electricity to Viet Nam annually, was officially inaugurated yesterday in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

China Southern Power Grid Company Chairman Yuan Maozhen said the line will make a major contribution towards boosting bilateral economic and trade ties.

Construction of the line, the largest cross-border power line to be built by China, started in February this year.

It is part of a US$500 million power supply contract signed in October 2005 between the China Southern Power Grid and Electricity of Viet Nam. The contract stipulates that the Chinese firm will supply electricity to the six provinces in northern Viet Nam for at least 10 years.

By the end of August, China Southern Power Grid had supplied 1.01 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to Viet Nam, using three 110 kilovolt transmission lines, Yuan said.

The company is already building the second 220 kilovolt power transmission line to supply power to Viet Nam, which is expected to be operational by April 2007, with another 550 kilovolt transmission line also being planned.

Yuan said China Southern Power Grid is also involved in the building of generation and transmission facilities in Viet Nam, Laos, Myanmar and other countries in the Mekong River valley.

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