Several big-scale steel projects are still dragging their feet, largely due to the weak financial capacity of the investors and the contractors, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in an updated report.
It its report, the ministry cited six projects that are years behind schedule, including some billion-dollar projects.

The Taiwanese-invested Guang Lian project in Quang Ngai Province’s Dung Quat Economic Zone has undergone changes in both capital and scale, but the investor has yet to step up execution.

Its annual designed output has been scaled up to seven million tons from the previous five million tons, while its invested capital is to be increased by half to US$4.5 billion. However, the revised project has not been licensed due to concerns from local authorities over the investor’s financial capacity.

In fact, the Taiwanese investor E-United has had its license amended four times, but little construction has been done so far, according to the ministry’s report.

For the Ha Tinh Steel Complex, which has annual designed output of five million tons and requires a total of US$5 billion, the progress is limited to talks on site clearance and compensation.

The ministry said Indian investor Tata and its Vietnamese partner are still clearing hurdles over site clearance while seeking a license from the provincial government of Ha Tinh.

Locally-owned projects are also moving slowly.

The project to tap 10 million tons of iron ore a year at Thach Khe in Ha Tinh Province has almost stalled as the investors have failed to contribute their capital.

The project requires chartered capital of VND2.4 trillion and the total invested capital of VND10.4 trillion, but the investors have contributed hundreds of billions only, said the ministry. The two key stakeholders in this project are the national coal corporation Vinacomin and Ha Tinh Trade Corporation.

Meanwhile, the project to upgrade Thai Nguyen Steel Complex for the second phase could hardly be put into operation this year as scheduled because of the poor capacity of the Chinese contractor. This project aims to boost the annual output of the complex by 500,000 tons of steel materials a year, and cost VND3.84 trillion.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, current domestic steel consumption is equivalent to only 50%-60% of annual production, so when large-scale projects are put into operation, the oversupply will worsen.

VIR