Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said the government expected to attract $22 billion in FDI this year and disburse more than $10 billion.

The country attracted $7.6 billion FDI in the first four months of this year, up 42.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Of the capital, more than $1.4 billion was realized in April alone, the highest level in recent years.

Advantages

The remarkable FDI disbursement was the result of projects’ extensive preparation as well as flexibility toward site clearance.

On April 29, South Korean group Halla Energy & Environment began work on a heavy industry project in My Xuan B1 Industrial Park in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, four months after the company received an investment license.

Ho Yong Shon, general director of Vina-Halla Heavy Industrial Co., said the launch of the project was faster than expected, with the plant now scheduled to turn out products by year end.

Another two real estate projects broke ground on April 30 in southern Dong Nai Province, only five days after they were licensed.

The two projects have both started building 11-kilometer roads that will lead to the proposed residential complexes.

Le Minh Chau, head of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Industrial Parks Authority, said 45 percent of the province’s promised FDI had been realized so far this year.

“It is possible to say that most of the foreign-invested projects in the province are on track,” he said.

Director of Dong Nai Department of Planning and Investment Bo Ngoc Thu said with 57 percent FDI disbursement, his province had one of the highest disbursement ratios in the country.

The province was always ready to prepare sites for investment projects so investors in industrial parks could begin work immediately after being granted licenses, Thu explained.

Phan Huu Thang, head of the Foreign Investment Department, said his agency was making an effort to speed up FDI disbursements, hoping to realize at least $10 billion of registered capital this year.

“This figure may be higher if all of the localities can tackle problems involved in site clearance,” he said.

Dong Nai has piloted a program that allows farmers, whose land is to be cleared for investment projects, to contribute capital into joint ventures through land use rights.

For instance, the Dong Nai Agriculture Services Co-Operative Union (DonaCoop) has invested in two new real estate joint venture projects – the $750 million Waterfront Dong Nai City and the $305 million Aqua City.

According to an official from the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, these joint ventures prepared resettlement projects for DonaCoop members, who had their land transferred to the venture as capital contributions.

He said the project backers had decided to set aside 300 hectares to build a residential complex to house the former farmers.

More solutions

Thang said to achieve its FDI disbursement target, the Foreign Investment Department would, over the next two months, examine long-delayed projects in major cities and provinces.

If project owners had no satisfactory reason for the holdup, their investment licenses would be revoked, he said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment recently set a June 30 deadline for city and provincial authorities to review all licensed projects and tackle any problems, especially between Vietnamese partners and local administrations.

Source: TN, Agencies