July 18 – Vietnam has been plagued with severe power outages that are affecting business in the country.
The Deputy Prime Minister has already ordered power suppliers to hurry the construction of electricity power plants and facilities to meet rising demand.
In Ho Chi Minh City, shops and restaurants have resorted to using electric generators to keep business running although not all the businesses in the city can afford to buy generators.
Blackouts in the city’s district 3 and Binh Thanh reported incidents of knocked out traffic lights causing traffic jams and vehicular accidents.
The city center has even resorted to cutting power to 33 medium power lines to guarantee that there would be no blackouts at college entrance exam sites during this week.
Many business located at the Mekong River Delta have also made complaints that the frequent blackouts are making them lose money and cutting on their capacity.
Huynh Tan Han, a representative of the Da Nang Electricity Company, told Thanh Nien News that supply shortages were to blame for the sudden outages and that the electricity situation was still strained.
Electricity of Vietnam added that it could only answer to 70 percent of the country’s demand for July and warned that power shortage would only continue for months.
