MPI refuses to license Vung Ang 2 thermal power

Vung Ang 1 thermal power plant will have to wait for its sister facility a while longer

Previously, the firm submitted a document as well as dossier requesting MPI to grant the investment registration certificate for the project.

OneEnergy Asia was seeking the approval of Vietnamese authorities to become the sole investor in the $2.2 billion Vung Ang 2 thermal power plant after purchasing the remaining stakes from Thermal Power JSC (VAPCO), its joint venture with local firm Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE).

MPI stated that Decree No.63/2018/ND-CP on investment in the form of public-private partnership (PPP), contains no regulations related to either licensing or adjusting the investment certificate for projects developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Besides, Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang stated that while studying the OneEnergy’s dossier, MPI found mismatches between the land area proposed by the investor and the area already approved.

Notably, OneEnergy Asia Limited requested an area of 94.6 hectares for the project, while the approved land area was only 86 hectares.

Besides, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment approved the project’s environmental impact assessment report in February 2015. To date, the construction has been delayed by 24 months. Thereby, according to regulations, the investor has to submit a new report, which has not happened yet.

Regarding the investment and equity capital, the investor, which is a 50/50 partnership of Hong Kong’s CLP Holdings and Japan’s Mitsubishi Group, has not met the requirements to develop the project.

Notably, according to the existing investment certificate, the investor has to have equity capital in excess of VND12.66 trillion ($549.49 million), equalling 25.4 per cent of the investment capital for the project. However, as of the end of 2017, the investor only had VND607 billion ($26.4 million).

The investor would have to mobilise more than VND37.21 trillion ($1.61 billion–74 per cent of the investment capital) from loans for the project. However, according to OneEnergy Asia’s dossier, it can only arrange loans worth approximately $900 million from banks.

Due to the above reasons, MPI asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the investor to consider opinions from other ministries and relevant authorities and then develop the project in compliance with regulations.