STX shipyard set to be torpedoed

VietNamNet Bridge - Khanh Hoa province could sink the $500 million STX shipyard project this month if the investor failed to signal whether it would continue with the project.
 
Nguyen Trong Hoa, director of Van Phong Economic Zone Management Board, said the province would wait for the STX Vina Company - a subsidiary of Korean STX Group, also the project owner, till December 31, 2009 to know reasons for delays.

“If the investor doesn’t answer our requirements within this month, we will revoke the shipyard’s investment certificate,” Hoa told VIR. Some investors, he said, had expressed interest in replacing STX Vina Company in building the shipyard.

The province reportedly had contacted the investor three times this year seeking reasons for delay to no avail. The project, located in Khanh Hoa province’s Van Phong Economic Zone, was granted investment certificate early last year to develop the shipyard which would build vessels of up to 400,000 dead weight tonnes.

“When granting investment certificate for the project, we hoped the shipyard would push local industry. But the project’s disbursement is still zero,” Hoa said. Early this year, the STX Vina Company submitted an application to extend the project’s timeline. The investor said the global economic recession had knocked it and it could not develop the project on time.

However, Khanh Hoa province asked the investor to further explain. “We contacted with STX Vina Company’s office in Hanoi and it told us it was waiting for decision from its mother company STX Group. But, we cannot wait too long. Frankly, we don’t know if the investor would still invest in the project,” Hoa added.

STX is the second Korean company to gain a licence to build a shipyard in Khanh Hoa province. In late 1990s, Huyndai joined hands with Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group to build a ship-repairing factory in Van Phong Bay. Last year, the factory shifted its functions to shipbuilding after residents and local authorities raised concern about environment pollution.

VietNamNet/VIR