With no clean land, $169 mln central Vietnam project faces termination

Binh Dinh province has granted in-principle approval for the termination of a VND4.3 trillion ($169 million) wooden board manufacturing project by Kim Thanh Lap Forestry JSC, citing lack of clean land to implement it.

A company document clarified that in the process of completing investment procedures, they encountered difficulties because the Giao Hoi industrial cluster in Hoai Tan ward, Hoai Nhon township, where the project was to be based, had not been set up yet.

Besides, site clearance cost in Hoai Nhon township was too high compared to the general level in the province, said the document, adding that the Giao Hoi industrial cluster was located in a mountainous area and massive land would need to be removed for site clearance. Therefore, the location was not suitable for the large project planned.

“It will take at least four to five years for this industrial cluster to be completed, meaning the project will only become operational after such a long time, and the company would completely lose out on other investment opportunities,” he explained.

In 2021, the Binh Dinh People's Committee had approved the investment plan and the investor for the Binh Dinh MDF, HDF and OKAL wooden board factory project.

The factory was to cover 45 hectares in Hoai Tan ward, Hoai Nhon township. In its first phase, it would produce 180,000 cubic meters of OKAL particleboard and 425,250 cubic meters of MDF and HDF boards per year.

Insufficient attention

The provincial Department of Planning and Investment has approved the termination of six projects in the first quarter of 2024 at the investors' request.

The province attracted 13 projects in Q1/2024 with a total registered investment capital of more than VND2 trillion ($78.6 million), reaching just 13% of the target. During this period, 17 projects registered for capital additions of VND267.2 billion ($10.5 million).

Authorities acknowledged that Binh Dinh had not attracted any large-scale project with financially strong investors in Q1.

The department said many areas in the province have not paid due attention to investment attraction. Such areas have attracted no new investments, he added.

Furthermore, slow site clearance in some localities such as Phu My and Van Canh districts and Quy Nhon town is greatly affecting project implementation by investors.

Many projects have either not begun implementation or lagged well behind schedule, leading to a waste of resources and adversely ffecting the lives of people in the project area, a department official noted.