The World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Dragon Capital have denied committing funds for the US$30 billion steel complex project proposed for northern central Thanh Hoa province by a little-known US group, state media reports.
Eminence Group USA’s earlier claims that the financial groups had promised to pour money in the mammoth project evoked skepticism, and the three have now refuted the claim.
ADB had not made any commitment, said Ayumi Konishi, the ADB’s country director for Vietnam.
He confirmed that Eminence had contacted the ADB, whose officials attended a presentation last Tuesday in Hanoi where it dazzled them and others with plans to build a 15,000-ha steel complex in Nghi Son Economic Zone. But he knew very little of the company and would not comment on the project.
Dominic Scriven, director of Dragon Capital, said his fund too had attended the presentation, but Dragon Capital had not pledged anything to the project. He himself knew practically nothing about the project and was skeptical about the figure of US$30 billion.
The WB said it did not have any further plans regarding the project, since it considered it unfeasible.
No commercial bank has announced involvement in the project.
The US Embassy in Vietnam could not provide any further information about Eminence and its project, saying that Eminence’s project had not gone through the embassy.
The Vietnamese Ministries of Industry, and Planning and Investment, both said they didn’t have much information about Eminence and the steel project, except the information provided at the presentation last Tuesday in Hanoi.
Nguyen Xuan Trung, vice head of the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Department, said something was amiss and his ministry would investigate.
All proposals to arrange an interview with Yang Wu Song, Chairman of Eminence, have been refused, as Mr Song cannot arrange the time. The only thing reporters know about him is his statement that he wanted to make the US$30 billion investment in Vietnam because he loves the country.
Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said at present there has never been a 30 million-ton-per-year steel project in the world. A 10 million-ton steel mill is very big, Cuong added.
Based on documents about the project Eminence provided for representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry, both the Vietnam Steel Association and the Vietnam Steel Corp. confirmed that technologies for the project introduced by Eminence are very outdated, some are even banned in developed countries. (Young People, Youth, VietNamNet, Vnexpress, Pioneer)
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