A number of FDI projects worth billions of USD across Vietnam have been cancelled due to infeasibility or because investors failed to complete required procedures.
Ho Tram Strip project
The Kien Giang provincial government has just decided to cancel a luxury resort project worth EUR2 billion (USD2.63 billion) on Phu Quoc Island.
The project was proposed by Swiss Trustee Group in late 2007 with their Vietnamese partner Vinaconex R&D JSC.
The project received approval in principle by the provincial government but the investor has yet to complete required procedures.
After several warnings by local authorities for the investor to complete compensation and resettlement plans by last February, along with detailed plans for the project itself by last August, these deadlines were not met.
Eventually the project was cancelled, stirring up public concern over other similar luxury FDI projects.
Statistics by the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency showed that numerous FDI projects, worth billions of USD, have been cancelled since 2007.
The most prominent of these include the USD9.8-billion Ca Na steel complex in Ninh Thuan Province, the USD4-billion Rong beach in Quang Nam Province, the USD1.68-billion creative city in Phu Yen Province, and the USD1.3-billion magic world park in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
A number of others have been progressing at a very slow pace.
Several economists have expressed worry over the general feasibility of the plans for many of these luxury FDI projects, which they say exhibit significant disparities between registered capital and actual fund disbursement. Numerous projects that are already underway, such as New City and Nam Hoi An reported low rates of disbursement.
"Many investors have failed to realise their pledges," said Dr. Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises.
He added that any projects that show themselves to be stagnant or infeasible should be discontinued as soon as possible in order to make way for better ones.
