Vietnam will filter FDI: MPI

Head of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) Phan Huu Thang said that Vietnam will accept foreign direct investment (FDI) projects selectively – it will say ‘no’ to projects which cannot meet requirements.

“ will attract FDI selectively and it will only choose suitable projects in the context of big FDI inflow into ,” Thang said, adding that will refuse to licence projects which do not fit the country’s socio-economic development strategy.

He went on to say that state management agencies will also say ‘no’ to investors who cannot show necessary measures on environmental protection, especially projects that may cause pollution. Moreover, investors of projects that cannot guarantee their financial capability will also be refused licences.

Thang said that local authorities recently have refused to licence many FDI projects, especially in the central province of Quang Ngai.

Regarding licenced projects which have been slow in implementation, Le Huu Quang Huy, Director of the Investment Promotion Centre in the central region, said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment has taken measures to speed up disbursement and check investment projects.

Three teams have been set up and sent to localities to check the infrastructure and disbursement rates of projects in industrial zones and export processing zones, and disbursement for real estate and big-scale projects. The ministry will release decisions on revoking the licences of projects being implemented slowly.

Nguyen The Dat, Head of the Management Board of Bo Y International Bordergate Economic Zone in Kon Tum province, said that will not accept FDI at any cost.

Dat said that previously, because they were trying to attract FDI, local authorities vied with each other to offer investment incentives. The incentives were so big in some cases that investors hesitated to make investments, believing ‘the cheapest is the dearest’. Overly big incentives, in this case, had the opposite effect.

Also because of trying to attract investment, some local authorities ignored regulations on requiring environmental protection measures. As a result, the environment has been abused, while the money collected from investments is not enough to fix the pollution. The recent Vedan case is a prime example.

According to MPI, has attracted 885 foreign direct investment projects which have the total registered capital of $57.1bil, including 20 very big projects.

Via: tienphong