"The ceremony to block the waters of the Da river will be held on December 2," said Dinh Van Thoat, an official of Son La province where the project is located.

Thoat, a member of the committee in charge of population transfer, also said a majority of people who needed to be relocated have left the site already.

"We have relocated 867 households (or around 4,680 people) from the site of the dam. From now to the end of the month, another 36 households will be relocated, in time for the opening ceremony," Thoat told AFP.

The Vietnamese government plans to move 91,000 people from areas to be flooded by 2010. Most of them are members of ethnic minority groups.

The dam, costing more than 2.6 billion dollars, is expected to begin generating electricity in 2012. The power plant will have a projected capacity of 2,400 megawatts, with full operations planned by 2015.

Vietnam's parliament approved the project construction in late 2002 after the government scaled down its size in the face of objections on human and safety grounds.

Son La is located in an area of seismic activity, and legislators were concerned an earthquake could unleash a torrent of water, threatening Hanoi, some 300 kilometres (190 miles) southeast.

Electricity demand has risen on average by 13 percent to 15 percent annually in the past few years in Vietnam. According to government estimates, more than 90 billion kilowatts of power will be needed in 2010.

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