It is being reported that the Vietnamese government has given approval in
principle for STX Shipbuilding Co. Ltd of South Korean, to build a US$500
million shipyard covering 300 hectares in the Van Phong Economic Zone in
Vietnam.
Vietnam is keen to progress shipbuilding as a national champion and this
is the latest development towards her goal of becoming a world-class
shipbuilder to rival other countries such as China, South Korea and
Japan.
Although there are 'certain formalities' to go through before final
approval, it is almost certain that there are just purely formalities and
the construction of the new shipyard will go ahead, as Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung has instructed state agencies 'to help' the company with
them.
It is expected the yard will have a capacity of between 900,000 and 2.5
million Dwt between the first and second phases of construction.
Other projects mooted for the Van Phong Economic Zone by foreign
investors include:
A 2,640MW thermal power plant, costing $4 billion, by Japanese Sumitomo
Group
1 million ton per annum petrochemical factory costing $1.2 billion by SP
Chemicals of Singapore
A $1.5 billion steel complex, capacity of 4-8 million tons of steel a year
by South Korea's POSCO.
The new shipyard will we located at Khanh Hoa, just 20 km north of
the existing VInashin-Hyundai shipyard.
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