8 FDI licences may be withdrawn

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau had resulted in 27 projects totalling 2.3 billion USD being licensed so far this year, the province's Department of Planning and Investment said.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau had resulted in 27 projects totalling 2.3 billion USD being licensed so far this year, the province's Department of Planning and Investment said.

However, issuing permits for foreign-invested projects didn't mean they would go ahead, and many had stagnated or were developing ineffectively, department director Le Kim Huong said.

This had prompted a warning that licences would be withdrawn if action was not taken, she said.

Permits had been issued for foreign-invested projects valued at 26.2 billion USD over more than 10 years but only about 20 percent of the total had been disbursed, she said.

In the first seven months of this year, of the 2.3 billion USD licensed, only 650 million USD were disbursed, mainly for large projects, including a steel plant and a sea port. FDI disbursement in small and medium-sized projects, meanwhile, was only a trickle, she said.

The province had told investors in foreign-invested projects to speed up their development or face withdrawal of their project licences, Huong said.

Six project licences had already been withdrawn this year due to slow development or ineffective operation, she said.

Licences were withdrawn for projects by the Republic of Korean ’s AJ Vietstar Construction and Development Ltd, Ajung Technical and Construction Ltd Company, V-Can Ltd Company, Con Dao Pearl Company, Imac Vietnam Ltd Company and Maxco Ltd Company.

Huong said Ba Ria-Vung Tau province had improved its infrastructure to create favourable conditions for investors, especially in tourism projects.

It also was attracting FDI to the industrial sector because of its sea port and technical infrastructure, Huong said. And a "one door" administrative procedure, making use of information technology, had helped cut red tape./.

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