Vietnam FDI to top $12 bln
Foreign direct investment in Vietnam, buoyed by the country’s recent WTO membership, is forecast to rise to US$12 billion this year.
It would overshoot the original target by a full $1 billion, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said.
In February alone, $1.2 billion was committed, a 27 percent year-on-year jump.
A recent MPI survey found 20 large investors with projects worth $20 billon were seeking licenses.
On the cards
Phan Huu Thang, head of the ministry’s Foreign Investment Department, said most of the projects were viable.
Sumitomo Corp. wants to build a power plant and port in the central Khanh Hoa province’s Van Phong Economic Zone at over $4.6 billion.
If the projects are approved, the Japanese company will become the largest investor in the country, and, at 2,640 MW, the power plant will be Vietnam’s biggest.
Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s leading maker of outsourced electronics products, plans to build a plant each in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang at a cost of $3 billion.
The Bac Ninh factory will be in a 1,000 ha complex which will include a hi-tech park, township, golf course, hospital, and entertainment park.
In Bac Giang too it will be situated in a similar, 1,500 ha complex.
The two plants will churn out computers and communication and consumer electronic products.
Malaysian urban developer Gamuda Group is seeking to invest $1 billion to build a 323 ha integrated commercial complex in Hanoi.
If licensed, construction will start by the end of this year and be completed in eight years.
It would include a convention centre, office towers, international five-star hotels, and luxury properties.
Vietnam has raised its FDI target for 2006-10 to $55 billion, with focus on hi-tech industries.
It also hopes $25 billion will actually be brought in, 55 percent into the industrial sector, 37 percent into the services sector, and 8 percent into the agro-forestry-fisheries sector.
Last year it received $10.2 billion, far above the original target of $6.5 billion. |
