Vietnam’s largest registered FDI project to be axed

January 06, 2011 | 16:25

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Ninh Thuan People’s Committee is preparing to axe Vietnam’s largest registered foreign direct investment project in Vietnam, giving the site to industrial park investors.

image source:cafef

The committee recently announced that it would revoke the investment certificate of a joint venture between financially troubled Vinashin and Malaysia’s Lion Group for building a $9.8 billion steel manufacturing complex.

The project’s 1,650 hectare site will be granted to domestic firm Ocean Energy Development Corporation for developing a deep seaport and industrial parks. However, the total investment capital of those projects has not been revealed.

“The change aim to using land effectively and attract investments for developing industrial sector of the province in accordance with the provincial economic development plant till 2020,” said a Ninh Thuan People’s Committee announcement.

Those industrial parks will attract manufacturing projects supporting for the development of nuclear power plants and wind power plants in Ninh Thuan.

At present, the provincial authority is waiting for direction from the prime minister before revoking investment certificate of Vinashin-Lion Group joint venture. In addition, the provincial authority also proposed to add the new industrial parks into national master plan for industrial parks.

In September 2008, the partners received an investment certificate for investing into Ca Na steel manufacturing project, to have an annual capacity of 14 million tonnes of steel.

The joint venture broke ground Cana steel project two months later. Under the initial development plan of the joint venture, the first phase of project was scheduled to complete construction in 2010. The whole project will be fully completed by 2025.

However, Lion Group, which accounts for 70 per cent of the stake in the joint venture, had done nothing to develop the project since November, 2009.

By Ngoc Linh

vir.com.vn

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