|
HCMC attracts huge investment pledges, but disbursement slow
Though Ho Chi Minh City has attracted foreign investment for years, the actual disbursement of the money has been slow.
Since the Foreign Investment Law was passed in 1987, Vietnam’s economic hub, excluding its industrial parks and export processing zones, has attracted nearly US$26 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI).
But only 39.6 percent of this amount, or $10.1 billion, has come in so far.
The management of District 2’s Thu Thiem new urban area, said though work on two FDI projects worth $600 million started in mid-2008, only $51 million has been disbursed so far.
Authorities blame the slow disbursement on the city’s inadequate infrastructure, shortage of skilled workers, and high land prices because of a real estate bubble that only burst last year.
Phan Huu Thang, head of the Foreign Investment Agency, said the city authorities should keep a close eye on all FDI projects to fix problems in time, adding provinces and cities that do so have a high disbursement rate.
He also said city officials should select 50 major projects and give their investors support to help speed up the disbursement process.
Hua Ngoc Thuan, head of the construction and investment management board at Saigon South new urban area, said the city should license various parts of a large project instead of the whole project to speed up disbursement and construction work.
Of the more than 3,100 FDI projects in the city in the last 20 years, 36.3 percent are in the industry and construction sector and 14.9 percent in the real estate sector.
Hong Kong tops the list of countries and territories investing in HCMC with $3.4 billion, or 15.9 percent of the total investment, followed by South Korea and Singapore.
FDI $6.3 BILLION FROM JANUARY-APRIL
Vietnam attracted more than $6.3 billion in FDI in the first four months of this year, the government said on its website Wednesday.
The figure means investment fell 17 percent year-on-year.
The government issued licenses to 145 projects with a total registered capital of $2.48 billion between January and April, the Vietnam Economic Times reported Monday, citing the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Some existing projects were allowed to increase their investment by $3.87 billion, the newspaper said.
The US surged from ninth position in the list of foreign investors last December to top place with pledges worth $3.8 billion, followed by Japan and Hong Kong, according to the government’s website.
thanhnien
|
