Delays prompt call to scrap shipbuilding park

Officials have asked the Prime Minister to cancel a shipbuilding park project to be built by Viet Nam Shipping Industry Corporation (Vinashin) in Tien Giang Province, after three years of delay in construction.

In 2007, the province’s People’s Committee approved the Soai Rap Shipbuilding Industrial Park project, which would have employed more than 10,000 people.

The committee said Vinashin planned to build the park on 285ha of land in rural Go Cong Dong District during the first phase, and complete the project on another 200ha.

According to the Tien Giang Industrial Park management board, Vinashin cleared 200ha of land for the project, but did not complete necessary registration procedures.

Officials who asked Vinashin to provide information about the project, including its environmental impact, have never received a reply.

Planning experts have said that Vinashin had no intention to build the park but only wanted the land. The site is considered to be one of the most beautiful areas along the Vam Co River, and is near the mouth of the Soai Rap River, which is close to HCM City.

The People’s Committee said that area businesses had been adversely affected by Vinashin’s delays.

In 2007, Tien Giang Province, for example, signed a contract with the Dong Tam Joint-Stock Company to build a clean water supply plant with total investment capital of VND1.4 trillion (US$74.1 million).

Water would be supplied to major industrial parks in Go Cong Dong District, including the Soai Rap industrial park, according to the People’s Committee.

The Dong Tam water plant is now operating but does not have enough customers because the industrial park was never built.

As a result, the province has monthly had to offer compensation of around VND100 billion ($5.3 million) to the water plant because of its financial losses. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam shipping industry