HANOI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam needs to annually invest 10 billion U.S. dollars in building new power plants and expanding operational ones in the next 15 years, local media on Thursday quoted a deputy minister of industry and trade as reporting.

The investment is needed to increase Vietnam's electricity capacity by 6,000-7,000 MW each year in the next 15 years to serve its economic growth, daily newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) quoted Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong as saying.

The country's economy is forecast to grow over 7 percent annually in the 2020-2035 period, so its electricity capacity should surge to more than 96,000 MW by 2025, and 130,000 MW by 2030 from the current 45,000 MW, he noted.

Many local experts said Vietnam is facing a high rate of public debts, so it should encourage private investors to build power plants, instead of using state budget to do so. They also proposed Vietnam import electricity from China and Laos. Enditem