Vietnam Ministry Discusses Ways to Boost FDI Disbursement

The Foreign Investment Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) held a workshop in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province on September 7 to discuss measures to speed up foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement.

 

At the event attracting representatives from the Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE), experts said the country’s slow FDI disbursement is mainly attributed to localities’ lax supervision on projects.

 

A number of cities and provinces license large-scaled FDI projects without taking careful consideration on local real conditions, VAFIE Chairman Nguyen Mai said.

 

Ba Ria Vung Tau province, where has a lot of tourism potentials, has licensed up to 18 steel projects though capacity of steel factories in Vietnam has surpassed domestic consumption demand.

 

To improve the situation, localities should prioritize the licensing of high-tech projects, while strictly revoking license of infeasible or long-delayed ones to transfer land to others, Mai added.

 

A regulation on deposit for realty investors should be issued to enhance their higher responsibility, he noted, urging localities to withdraw license of projects whose investors do not submit their implementation report to concerned agencies twice.

 

Former Head of the Foreign Direct Investment Phan Huu Thang said: “It is time for Vietnam to take drastic measure to raise quality of the FDI flow, aiming to narrow the big gap between pledged FDI and disbursement”.

 

The nation attracted a total registered FDI of up to $114 billion between 2007 and 2009, but saw just $29.5 billion disbursed during the period. Vietnam is forecast to lure in a total pledged FDI of $350 billion by 2015, but the disbursement is expected at $145 billion by the year, Thang added. (Youth, vietnamplus)