Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation
According to a report released on February 20 by the Government Inspectorate, the project was approved in 2005 by the then prime minister at an initial tally of VND3.843 trillion, or USD242.5 million given the exchange rate at that time at VND15,850 to the dollar.
The project, which was scheduled to be completed within two and a half years, was intended to triple the capacity of steel billet production from 250,000 tonnes to 759,000 tonnes and included two major bidding packages and 22 other smaller components.
A major package to develop a chain of metallurgy technology operations, worth roughly VND2.3 trillion (USD143 million), at an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes of steel billets.
In 2007, TISCO signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth USD160.8 million with the Metallurgical Construction Corporation of China (MCC) to complete the package, scheduled for completion within two and a half years.
TISCO has paid MCC over 92% of the contract's value but most of the construction work has remained unfinished.
A rotten signboard of the oxygen production plant was one among various construction works
TISCO also paid on behalf of MCC an accumulated amount of taxes, worth USD11.6 million, and other costs for equipment loading, unloading and maintenance but the Chinese contractor failed to transfer all the machinery specified in the contract
In 2012, TISCO suggested the Ministry of Industry and Trade raise the total investment of the project to VND8.104 trillion. The approval was given in mid-2013, and the project was expected to begin operations in late 2014.
42 trucks which were imported at over USD1 million were found to have different capacity from those registered by TISCO
However, MCC and its subcontractors have suspended work on the project since 2013.
Many tools and equipment have been left outdoors for years
Statistics from TISCO revealed that the total payments on the project, as of late 2016, amounted to nearly VND4.5 trillion, including the costs of equipment and construction of some VND2.1 billion and VND1 trillion, respectively. With principal and interest on the project, it totalled some VND3.9 trillion.
