The Prime Minister has approved a proposal on holding a limited tender to choose a factory to build research ships to explore the marine environment and its resources.

The tender will be held among ship building factories of the Ship-Building Industry Corporation.

The PM also agreed to extend the disbursement period for the project’s pre-payment of 200 billion VND (9.5 million USD) until the end of 2015.

The PM requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance to allocate the funds. He also asked MONRE to approach the investor in order to speed up progress of the project.

The PM approved the project in 2014 and initially agreed upon an advance of 200 billion VND (9.5 million USD) to implement the project by late June 2015.

According to a MONRE report, the vessels will be completed in 2015-2016, while the research equipment will be installed in 2017-2018.

VNA