The northern province of Quang Ninh continues to encounter challenges in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) although it remains one of the country's top destinations for foreign investors, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Inadequate infrastructure, slow land clearance, insufficient information about land allocation schemes and prices, and electricity shortages were major barriers, said the department deputy director Nguyen Huu Giang.

To rectify this situation, the province would continue to support investors in speeding up infrastructure facilities, especially in industrial zones such as Dong Mai, Hai Ha and Phuong Nam, and in implementing their projects, Giang said.

Fostering administrative procedures reform, renewing investment promotion, organising regular meetings between local authorities and investors and improving human resources would also be focused on, he added.

These measures were expected to better facilitate series of new projects such as the 70 million USD Dong Trieu golf course complex, a 400 million USD project to produce methanol from coal in the Hai Ha Industrial Zone, and a 20 million USD tile production project.

Once these projects were licensed they would contribute to improving FDI attraction of the province in the near future, Giang said.

The Foreign Investment Agency reported that Quang Ninh ranked second in the country's FDI attraction with over 2.2 billion USD in the past nine months, just behind the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau .

During the period, the province granted licences to three new projects worth 2.15 billion USD and allowed one existing project to increase capital by 52.3 million USD, the department said, outlining the US-invested Mong Duong 2 Thermo-electricity Plant, worth 2.14 billion USD as the period's largest project.

Despite a 40-percent decrease in the number of new projects compared to last year's corresponding period, the level of investment capital was much higher, it said.

In a move to attract more FDI, the province has expanded its investment promotion in several potential markets such as Japan , Germany and United Arab Emirates.

To date, the province is home to 100 valid foreign-invested projects, capitalised at 3.75 billion USD, making an effective contribution to the provincial socio-economic development./.