Russia’s $1 billion automobile complex revoked

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The 50-hectare project was licensed in March 2013. The Russian company planned to produce agricultural tools, auto parts, buses and cars, with 70 per cent of products for export and expected to create between 3,000 and 5,000 jobs.

Being one of the largest foreign-invested projects in the central province of Binh Dinh, the complex was expected to contribute to the socio-economic development of Binh Dinh. Besides, it was expected to lure other investors in manufacturing automotive spare parts to the province as well as encourage automakers to expand their investment capital in Vietnam. However, the project’s construction has yet to kick off after three years.

“The management board urged the investor to implement the project. However, the investor said that they failed to arrange the investment capital,” said Nguyen Ngoc Toan, deputy director of the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone Management Board.

“The management board always welcomes and provides preferential conditions for investors. But, we have to revoke long-delayed projects in order to create opportunities for other potential investors,” Toan told VIR.

Besides with the Russian company’s complex, in February, the board revoked the investment certificate of another foreign-invested project – the Nhon Hoi wind farm, invested in by Germany’s Vietterracon Investment and Management Co., Ltd and Switzerland’s Green Venture Invest AG also due to their delay in construction.

Licensed in 2014, the wind farm had the total investment capital of $109 million. Covering a total area of some 600 hectares, the first phase of the project is scheduled to be fully operational in 2016 with a capacity of 30.55 megawatt, and the second phase is expected to complete in 2020, creating a combined capacity of 61.1 MW.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to add the Nhon Hoi wind power project to Binh Dinh’s power development plan for the 2011–2015 period, with a vision to 2020.