FDI projects to bring dramatic investment increase

Grabowski Renewable Energy Company No.1 Ltd (GREC No.1 Ltd), a German investor in the power development sector, has submitted a E220 million project to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) for appraisal.
The company has applied to develop a wind-power plant in Tuy Phuoc district of Binh Dinh province. The project was designed with a legal capital of E70 million and a life-span of 50 years. It will be wholly owned by the German investor.
It is the largest single FDI project submitted by a German investor so far and is expected to double Germany’s registered FDI capital in Vietnam. Statistics from the MPI showed that, by the end of October, Germany had developed 48 FDI projects in Vietnam, combining a total committed capital of more than $242 million.
The project, if approved, should also change the face of Binh Dinh in terms of its capacity to attract FDI. As of the end of last month, the province had been home to 11 valid projects with a total registered capital of over $34 million, or more than one third of the sum being proposed by GREC No.1 Ltd.
Another wholly foreign-owned investment tabled for the MPI’s consideration involves the construction of a large-sized garment and footwear factory in Nam Dinh province.
The Youngone Nam Dinh project is seeking an investment licence in the Nam Dinh-based Hoan Xa Industrial Zone. The company owned by the South Korean Youngone Group with a total committed investment capital of $48 million.
The company will focus on design and production of knitting fabrics, clothes, footwear and garment materials, according to the project document. Ninety per cent of products will be exported, the investor’s proposal said. The factory will have a $16 million legal capital.
A significant improvement in the FDI situation in Nam Dinh is hoped for. There, only eight projects are going ahead, totalling almost $16 million in investment capital.
Meanwhile, South Korean investors are expressing interest in other large-scale projects, which should give a boost to the inflow FDI capital into the central province of Quang Nam.
The $36.8 tourism and entertainment centre in Nui Thanh will be a joint construction between Monier Binh Tay Tourism and Entertainment Joint Venture Company Limited owned by the South Korean Monier Co. Ltd. and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Binh Tay Construction, Trading and Tourism Co. Ltd. and will have a legal capital of $12 million.
By the end of October, Quang Nam had attracted 30 FDI projects, amounting to over $170 million.
This year, Vietnam has targeted a sum of $2.6 billion to be committed by foreign investors through newly established investments and capital supplementation as well as scaled-up operating projects. In the first 10 months of the year, it attracted $2.11 billion, according to the MPI’s figures.
A senior official at the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency told Vietnam Investment Review last week that the FDI inflow goals would be met.
“There is nothing to worry about in the achievement of the 2003 foreign direct investment (FDI) targets, considering both newly committed and disbursed investment capital,” he said.
“Given the average amount of capital registered monthly and a series of large projects being tabled for official appraisal and approval, we can foresee that the expected $2.6 billion FDI commitment will become reality by the end of the year,” he added.