$35bil Worth Of Big Projects To Be Initiated In Vietnam


The Ministry of Planning and Investment has revealed a list of 40 big projects which are going to be developed in Vietnam, capitalised at $35bil in total.





This proves to be a vast sum of capital, and if just one-third of the figure comes true, the targeted $12bil worth of foreign direct investment set earlier this year would be easily fulfilled.

These include a $5bil project on building high-tech zones specialising in making electronic products to be invested in by Taiwanese Foxconn. Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces in the north have been chosen as the investment places. Foxconn has set up a representative office in Bac Ninh to speed up the project’s implementation.

Power plant projects come second in terms of scale. The 2,640 MW Van Phong – Khanh Hoa coal-run thermo power plant is slated to be invested in by Japan’s Sumitomo group, and is estimated to have the total investment capital of $3.5bil. The project has been submitted to the Prime Minister.

There could be two other power plants: the Mong Duong 2 thermo power plant in Quang Ninh province (1,200 MW). The $1,463bil project would be developed by a joint venture of the US-based AES and the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries. It is expected that the project would be implemented under the mode of BOT (build – operation – transfer). The Government has approved the investment mode and has assigned the Ministry of Industry to conduct negotiations with the partner.

The other power plant is a coal-run thermo power plant to be located in the southern province of Binh Thuan, which has the investment capital of $1.4bil. The investor of the project would be China’s CSG.

Oil refinery projects are also listed among the upcoming projects. These include the $1.53bil oil refinery complex No 3 in Ba Ria – Vung Tau to be invested in by Thai Chemicals Group and PetroVietnam; and a 1mil tonne/year oil refinery worth $1.2bil to be invested in by Singapore’s SP Chemicals Company.

Industries and high technologies are the fields that foreign investors are focusing on. A steel project has been drawn up which comprises a 4.5mil tonne/year steel mill and a factory exploiting Thach Khe ore mine, capitalised at $3.75bil. The project has been drawing special attention from foreign investors. Korea’s Posco, Taiwan’s Sunsteel, India’s TaTa Steel and ESSAR, China’s Bao Steel and Wuhan all have expressed their interest in the steel project.

The US-based Alcoa Group is planning to join forces with the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries to run a project on bauxite exploration, worth $1.5bil.

Other noteworthy projects include projects on 1. Producing notebooks by Compaq in Vinh Phuc, capitalised at $500mil; 2. Building ships in Van Phong, Khanh Hoa province by Korea’s STX group, worth $500mil; 3. Steel joint ventures of India’s ESSAR, Vietnam Steel Corporation and Vietnam Rubber Corporation, $570mil.

Construction, real estate and tourism also prove to be attractive investment fields. The southern province of Kien Giang has attracted two big tourism projects: the Asian Pearl project on Phu Quoc Island proposed by Swiss Trustee Suisse and Vinaconex, estimated to cost $2bil, and a 1,800 ha luxurious entertainment complex. The latter project was suggested by the US-based Limited Investment Zone, estimated to be capitalised at $2bil. A smaller tourism project, worth $1bil, has also been registered by Britain’s Rockingham Asset Management.

Meanwhile, Hanoi has been successfully luring real estate projects in apartment and office leasing. Malaysia’s Gamuda Group has got permission to build and develop the Yen So area, worth $1bil. Britain’s Pacific Land Limited has decided to inject money in two projects worth $1bil each, to build a bio-industrial park in Nam Thang Long zone and Sai Dong A high-tech zone.

The list by the Ministry of Planning and Investment also shows the names of projects capitalised from $100mil to less than $1bil. Most of the foreign direct invested projects are located in big cities and localities like Hanoi, HCM City, Khanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau in the south, and Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh in the north