Vietnam PM urges tighter controls on foreign projects

Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged ministers, heads of government agencies and chairmen of provincial and municipal People’s Committees to strengthen and tighten their management of foreign investment.
Investment licences were being granted to foreign investors that were inconsistent with government planning – particularly for such projects as golf courses, plantationof forests, steel production and mining, Dung said.

Some projects were licensed without due consideration of technical standards, environmental impacts or labour requirements, he said.

Once licences had been granted, he added, ministries and localities had failed to properly supervise the execution of these projects.

Dung told them to draft investment preference policies suited to government orientations for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) during 2011-20. He highlighted the need to improve the quality of all foreign-invested projects, giving priority to environmentally friendly projects and those using modern technology.

Foreign investment also needed to be focused towards support industries, agricultural services, and knowledge-intensive sectors like information technology, he said.

He noted that investment projects in non-productive sectors should be limited since they made inefficient uses of energy, natural resources and land resources. Projects using out-of-date technology and causing environmental pollution should not be licensed, he added.

Ministries have moved to respond to the prime minister’s recommendations, reaching out to local authorities to improve investment quality in support industries and power generation, with a plan to be completed by May 2012.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has also decided to draft a plan to enhance State management of land and natural resources and more closely control mineral usage by foreign-invested enterprises. This plan would also be completed by May.

Local People’s Committees are also requesting the creation of a cooperative mechanism with central authorities in evaluation and granting investment certifications for foreign-invested projects.

Tags: invest in Vietnam, Vietnam FDI, Vietnam FDI 2011, Vietnam investment