Dung Quat Zone Attracts $5b

The Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai has to date attracted 103 projects with a combined capital of over $5b, according to the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of the zone’s management board. In 2006 alone, twenty projects were licensed in the zone, capitalized at over $1.1b, $832,of which came from foreign-invested projects. Among major new projects were a $1b steel mill by Taiwan’s Tycoons Group, a $260m heavy industrial complex by the Doosan Group of South Korea, and PetroVietnam’s $2.5b Dung Quat oil refinery. The zone, however, is still facing several challenges, said the centre. Technip, lead contractor of the refinery project, said that infrastructure in the industrial zone and in Quang Ngai Province was still inadequate to meet the requirements of the oil refinery project.

The two other large-scale new projects, the Tycoons’ steel mill and Doosan’s heavy industrial complex, together with a shipbuilding complex, have also fully occupied the land area of the eastern part of the zone which enjoys deep-water seaport access. A lack of both qualified managers and of workers, both manual and skilled, also has slowed the zone’s development. Le Van Dung, director of the Trade Promotion Centre, said that the key tasks for the zone this year were developing infrastructure and the Binh Long – Dung Quat port, particulary infrastructure for the top priority projects in the zone’s eastern areas. The zone was also striving to attract thermopower projects and steel and shipbuilding support industry projects. It has targeted attracting an $6 billion in investment, as well as annual export turnover of $120m, by 2010. Source: VNS