The Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with the authorities of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province that administers Con Dao to draw up a specific plan, as approved in principle by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Power will be provided by a station in the coastal Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang via a cable line stretching three kilometers on land and 15 kilometers under the shallow sea off Soc Trang before being transferred via a submarine cable of 78 kilometers to Con Dao.

The project will include a 110 kV substation.

Thus far, Con Dao Archipelago, a top tourist attraction in southern Vietnam, has been using electricity generated by a diesel generator, which has failed to meet actual demand.

Before the PM gives the green light, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has suggested the government allocate state funds for the project as part of its medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.

Con Dao comprises 16 islands that spread across 76 square kilometers with a population of 10,500. Con Son, the biggest island, is the only one inhabited.

The archipelago is considered to lie at a crucial and strategic position in terms of socio-economic development and national defense and security.

According to a master development plan, Con Dao is set to become a modern economic and tourist zone of regional and international scale.

The archipelago is expected to receive 300,000 visitors by 2030, but had already lured 400,000 in 2019, up 37 percent compared to 2018. Visitors can either fly from HCMC, Da Nang and Hanoi or travel by high-speed boat from Soc Trang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

A power development plan approved by the industry ministry for Con Dao in 2016 set the electricity demand for the islands at 21MW by 2024, 33.3 MW by 2030 and 46.4 MW five years later.

Yet till now, annual power supply in Con Dao has never exceeded 11.8 MW.