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Delayed projects set for review
The Government will review the implementation of foreign-invested projects in the next quarter, reconsidering those that have been delayed or seem unlikely to get off the ground because of investors’ financial inability, an investment official has said.
Phan Huu Thang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), said investors who did not plan to use all the land allocated for their projects would lose their rights to the unused portion.
The move aimed to ensure FDI disbursement this year would not fall below that of last year, Thang said. FDI pledges this year are estimated to reach only US$20 billion against $64 billion last year, though actual disbursement was only $11.5 billion.
Provinces and cities had to assist foreign investors who had begun to work on their projects to implement them on schedule, he exhorted.
They must ensure land is handed over in time to investors who are ready to disburse funds.
But with the global economic downturn beginning to bite, many investors are facing a cash crunch and have sought to delay their projects, according to local authorities.
But if they could not prove their capacity to continue their projects later, their licences would be taken away and other feasible projects would be considered in their place, the authorities said.
The country attracted FDI worth $5.3 billion in the first two months of this year, 70 per cent last year’s figure for the same period, according to the MPI.
Turf and surf
Any unreasonable delays in building golf courses will see their licences revoked and lands taken away and given to social welfare projects, HCM City authorities warn.
In two recent instances, People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan instructed authorities to cancel the licences and the land-use right allotted to these projects for building workers’ housing.
He told the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment and people’s committees of District 9 and Thu Duc District to take back four hectares from two delayed golf-course projects and allocate it instead to Sai Gon Tailoring Co No 3 to build houses.
He also told authorities to revoke the licence issued to Yonwoo-Van Phuc Ltd for developing the 160ha Hiep Binh Chanh golf course and amusement park in Thu Duc District.
A 156ha golf course to have been built by Sai Gon Golf Ltd in Long Truong Ward, District 9, has met the same fate.
The city has warned developers of the Sing-Viet Golf Course in Binh Chanh District and a golf course-sporting-residential complex in District 2 against further delays. They have been in the works for the last 10 years but have not made much progress.
The city has licensed seven golf courses that spread over 1,411ha but the 300ha Hoa Viet in District 9 is the only to be completed so far.
In a report tabled during a meeting with the HCM City People’s Committee on February 19, the Department of Planning and Investment said five of them were still in the land acquisition stage.
Five of them are to be built by foreign firms.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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