Ca Na Industrial Zone dreams lie in ruins

May 27, 2016 | 09:00

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Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee has issued a license revocation of developing Ca Na Industrial Zone from the ashes of the inactive Ca Na steel manufacturing complex, due to long delays in submitting dossiers for an investment certificate.

ca na industrial zone dreams lie in ruins

In September 2008, Vinashin-Lion Joint Venture Company Limited, a joint venture of state-owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and Malaysian Lion Group, was licensed to develop the $9.8 billion Ca Na steel manufacturing complex. The complex’s construction was started on November 2008.

Designed to have an annual capacity of 14 million tonnes, the complex was the biggest steel project licensed in Vietnam and the largest-ever foreign-invested project at the time. The investors promised to complete the first phase in 2008-2011. However, the construction could not be implemented on schedule due to financial troubles, leading to Lion Group’s withdrawal from the project. In early 2011, the management board of Ninh Thuan Industrial Zones revoked the investment certificate of the complex.

In May 2011, the prime minister green-lighted a proposal to turn the Ca Na steel manufacturing complex into Ca Na Industrial Zone. The project was also added to the list of zones prioritised for establishment until 2015, with a vision towards 2020.

The prime minister also licensed Ho Chi Minh City-based Ocean Energy Development Corporation and Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation to study plans to implement the 1,000 hectare project.

The construction of the zone was divided into two phases, however, as of now, no progress has been made.

By By Nguyen Duc

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