Compal scales back Vinh Phuc deal

Nguyen Tien Hanh, deputy head at Vinh Phuc Provincial People’s Committee’s Office, told VIR that both Foxconn and Compal had already sent written documents to the committee as requested.

“Once again, Foxconn and Compal reiterated their claim that they intended to continue their investment plans in projects here,” said Hanh, who is also director of Vinh Phuc Provincial Investment Promotion Agency.

Vinh Phuc Provincial People’s Committee in two documents issued last month announced that it would revoke the investment certificates for both Compal and Foxconn’s projects if the investors failed to record progress by April 2014.

Compal officially proposed to return 227 hectares of industrial land, which were originally earmarked for development into an industrial zone, and only asked to retain an already-built factory for manufacturing laptops, Hanh said.

Meanwhile, Hanh said that Foxconn did not give a specific proposal, except a promise to continue investing in projects in Vinh Phuc.

Compal received an investment certificate in 2007 for developing a $500 million laptop manufacturing factory and construction of Ba Thien industrial zone in Vinh Phuc. Foxconn obtained investment certificates for building a $200 million handset factory and a 485-ha industrial park in the province in 2008.

Compal completed the construction of the laptop manufacturing factory, but it stopped operations almost two years ago after several months of trial production. Vietnam-Taiwan joint venture Minh Duc Company is currently renting the factory to produce carton boxes for Korean Samsung’s manufacturing complex in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

Foxconn, meanwhile had done nothing with its investment projects, except clearing 60ha of land.

Vinh Phuc Provincial People’s Committee in May announced both Foxconn and Compal had violated regulations on their investment timelines, even though the provincial committee had extended the construction timelines for the projects many times and also finished entirety of the site clearance works.

“These are the biggest foreign investment projects in the province. We really want the investors to implement their projects, but we’ve so far been left disappointed,” said Hanh.

Doan Hong Chiem, deputy director of Vinh Phuc Provincial Industrial Zones Management Authority said Vinh Phuc was looking for a new investor to replace Compal at the Ba Thien industrial zone site.

“For the Foxconn projects, we’ve not yet reached a final decision,” said Chiem.