Vietnam Economy Forum

[Viet]

Transnational highway to boost China-Vietnam tourism


Updated: 2013-08-10 16:16 ( Xinhua)

Ha Long city (Vietnam)


NANNING - A transnational highway linking a city in South China and a Vietnamese tourist destination is expected to enhance the tourist industry in the two countries.

The 400-km-long highway, which opened earlier this week, connects Chongzuo city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the Vietnamese city of Ha Long, shortening bus travel time between the two locations to 7.5 hours.

Chongzuo attracts a great number of tourists with its beautiful transnational waterfalls and charming ethnic culture, while Ha Long is adjacent to Ha Long Bay, a famous tourist destination in Vietnam.

Lu Quan, deputy manager of the Business Management Department of the Guangxi Yunde Group, the operator of the highway, said it was the first transnational highway to link the two cities, and that it will facilitate transportation for visitors from both countries.

"It will bring more exchanges and contribute to the future development of the tourist industries in China and Vietnam," he said.

 

[Viet]

not bad, based on the current price of $6.8 per kilogram, that is a lot of money.


Vietnam's titanium reserves hit over 650 mln tons


Source: Xinhua Time: 2013-Aug-13 16:34

Titanium mining right on the beach at Turtle Island


HANOI, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's titanium reserves could amount to over 650 million tons, with about 1.2 million tons produced annually, according to the Vietnam Titanium Association ( VTA).

Currently 89 mines are operating across the country by the association's 44 members, who earned 85 million U.S. dollars from titanium exports in the first six months of this year and contributed about 14.1 million dollars to the State budget, the association reported Monday.

Under VTA's target, by 2020 its member will focus on investing in processing and large-scale projects, and push closer cooperation by using one company's products as the inputs for another.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, central Binh Thuan province has the largest titanium reserves of about 599 million tons, accounting for 92 percent of Vietnam's total titanium reserves, of which its Bac Binh district has titanium reserves of 142 million tons.

The provincial Department of Industry and Trade reported that 17 titanium processing projects are waiting to be operated at Song Binh industrial park, including large projects including the 350 million U.S. dollars-worth project by the Russian Geopromining Group, the 650 million U.S. dollars project by the Vietnamese Binh Minh Ex-Import company, and the 620 million U.S. dollars project by the Hanoi Technology company.

Vietnam's titanium reserves account for about 5 percent of the world's total titanium reserves, just behind Canada, the United States, Norway, India and Australia, according to VTA.

http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-08/13/c_132626986.htm

 

[Viet]

If my calculation is correct, then VN´s titanium reserves is worth of $4.42 trillion. Incredible!

 

[visom]

If my calculation is correct, then VN´s titanium reserves is worth of $4.42 trillion. Incredible!

But lets try to not sell off all our natural resources and rely on it for money. We need to invest in technology and services as well

 

[Viet]

But lets try to not sell off all our natural resources and rely on it for money. We need to invest in technology and services as well

you are right...but we are stupid if we let the treasure in the earth unexploited.

 

[visom]

you are right...but we are stupid if we let the treasure in the earth unexploited.

I agree, we only need it to help start our economy.

 

[ViXuyen]

I've said this before, Viet Nam has some of the world's largest deposits of bauxite, titanium and tungsten. Even if we go by conservative estimate, Viet Nam's titanium is worth at least $1 TRILLION usd

 

[NiceGuy]

foreign investors want to buy bad debts of Vietnam

Vietnam’s NPL attractive to foreign investors
VietNamNet Bridge - While Vietnamese banks are not much interested in selling bad debt for debt settlement companies, many foreign investors are very excited.



bad debts, npl, vamc, asset management company
Sheehan talks about bad debts in Vietnam at a seminar on Thursday.
Speaking at a seminar in Hanoi on Thursday, Mr. John Sheehan - former executive director of Lehman Brothers Bank, confirmed that billions of dollars are waiting to run into Vietnam. John had experience in handling bad debt in more than 22 markets worldwide.
The Irishman expert said that Vietnam has established a bad debt settlement company but the problem of this company is its "lack of money" and it only "solves the surface matters."

Commenting on the charter capital of VND500 billion ($25 million) of the Vietnam Assets Management Company (VAMC), he said that this amount will not be enough to solve the current bad debt problem so Vietnam is in need of major funding from outside.
Agreeing with this view, Mr. Truong Thanh Duc – Chairman of the Legal Club of the Bankers' Association - admitted: "To address the problem of bad debt, Vietnam needs money but it does not have, therefore, it needs capital from abroad. The problem is almost policies remain closed for foreign investors, such as regulations on share ownership, stock purchase, land holdings..."
Foreign investors, especially financial institutions, many times expressed concern to the bad debt of Vietnam before the establishment of VAMC was revealed. Most recently, in an interview with Bloomberg, VAMC General Director Nguyen Huu Thuy also revealed that VAMC would call for overseas capital.

Thuy also disclosed the identity of the first few foreign customers who want to buy bad debts of Vietnam, including International Finance Company of the World Bank, TPG Growth LLC - a unit of Standard Chartered. To date, IFC has confirmed its meeting and negotiation with VAMC while the remaining two declined to comment.
According to Sheehan, Vietnam has yet to create conditions for foreign capital to flow into when the infrastructure, the legal framework have not been improved.
"I already have a list of investors who wanted to enter Vietnam. They see Vietnam as an attractive destination but they cannot find any way to pour capital into Vietnam. Thus, the burden is on the Government’s shoulders. They are the ones to create a better infrastructure for investors," Sheehan said.
Many other markets in the region have also sought to improve policies to broad legal way for foreign capital to "save" their banks. In case of Thailand in dealing with non-performing loans (NPLs) in 1998, the government decided to allow foreign investors to own houses regarding to bad loans that they purchased as a temporary solution to help real estate values increase. Similarly, in 2002, the Philippines changed the laws taxes on foreign investors for them to give more money to buy bad debts.
Sheehan, who is currently executive director in Southeast Asia of Captial Services Group added that most foreign investors are interested in bad debt secured by real estate in Vietnam. They primarily come from the U.S. Meanwhile, a group of investors from Europe and Japan are interested in the bad debts of other sectors.
In the opinion of Sheehan, investors generally do not pay much attention to the bad debt figures announced by the market because the true scale of the bad debt is usually much larger. He said in the countries of transparency, the bad debt may double or even 3-4 times higher in the markets lacking transparency.
Vietnam

 

[Viet]

a step closer toward the $30 billion project



Thailand's PTT begins feasibility study on potential mega refinery in Vietnam


08.15.2013 | Hydrocarbon Processing | Refining, Petrochemicals, Gas Processing and LNG News and Information
By VU TRONG KHANH

Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in the central province of Binh Dinh, where a US$27-billion Thai oil refinery is planned to be built
PHOTO COURTESY OF TUOI TRE


The refinery, with a capacity of 660,000 bpd and a price tag of between $25 billion and $30 billion, would be built in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh. PTT has chosen McKinsey, Foster Wheeler and IHS as advisors for the project, it said, adding that the refinery would be operational from 2020.

HANOI -- Thailand's largest oil and gas conglomerate PTT has started working on the feasibility study for a project to build a mega oil refinery in Vietnam that, once completed, would turn the Southeast Asian country into a net oil product exporter from an importer.

Sukrit Surabotsopon, PTT's senior executive vice president for petrochemical and refining, told Vietnamese media Thursday that the study will be completed by May next year, according to a report from online news provider VnExpress.

The refinery, with a capacity of 660,000 bpd and a price tag of between $25 billion and $30 billion, would be built in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh, the report said.

PTT has chosen McKinsey, Foster Wheeler and IHS as advisors for the project, it said, adding that the refinery would be operational from 2020.

It said the refinery would produce 33 million tpy of oil and petrochemical products, 50% of which would be sold in Vietnam with the rest for exports.

Vietnam's sole refinery, the 130,000-bpd Dung Quat refinery, started production in 2009. It meets only around one third of the country's demand for oil products.

Local media reported last month that Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or Petrovietnam, and its partners from Japan and Kuwait will start construction of Vietnam's second oil refinery in September or October this year.

The $9 billion Nghi Son complex, to be located 180 kilometers south of Hanoi, will have a refining capacity of 200,000 bpd. It will process Kuwaiti crude oil supplied exclusively by Kuwait Petroleum International.

Vietnam imported 3.85 million tons of oil products in the first half of this year, down 22% from a year earlier, according to government data. Imports fell because the Dung Quat refinery was shut for two months in the middle of last year.


Thailand's PTT begins feasibility study on potential mega refinery in Vietnam | Hydrocarbon Processing | August 2013

 

[Viet]

Vietnam to spend $721 million to host Asiad 2019


TUOI TRE
UPDATED : 08/07/2013 16:51 GMT + 7

picture: A performance in Ho Chi Minh City to welcome the third Asian Indoor Games held in Vietnam in 2009


Vietnam plans to spend VND15 trillion (US$721.2 million) on hosting the 18th Asian Games in 2019, with the sum covering the building and upgrading costs of a number of sports centers, stadiums, and other sports facilities in the nation.

The construction cost of new sports facilities is estimated to cover over two thirds of the sum, according to Vuong Bich Thand, head of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training.

“Vietnam will build new courses for horse racing, hockey, and baseball,” he told Tuoi Tre in an interview on August 6 in Hanoi.

“In addition, sports centers including Quan Ngua and Trinh Hoai Duc and indoor sports center and other sporting halls in districts Hoai Duc, Dan Phuong, and Cau Giay will also be upgraded.”
The drafting of an organizational plan for the event has almost been done and it will be submitted to the Government next week, he added.

Vietnam has yet to announce the scale of the 2019 Asiad, but the 16th Asiad which was held in China in 2010 saw the participation of a total of 9,704 athletes from 45 nations, who competed in 476 events from 42 sports, and became the largest event in the history of the Games.

The 17th Asiad will be held in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea with 36 sports.

 

[Viet]

Vietnam to build $500 mln nuclear center in late 2015


TUOI TRE
UPDATED : 08/16/2013 12:11 GMT + 7

Vietnam will start the construction of a nuclear technology center, possibly in the Central Highlands, which will cost half a billion dollars in two years, an atomic energy official told Tuoi Tre on Thursday.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has been assigned to steer a project to build the Nuclear Science and Technology Center with consultation from Russian experts, Tran Chi Thanh, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, said at a conference on nuclear technology in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Funding will come from loans worth US$500 million provided by the Russian government, Thanh said, adding that feasibility studies and site selection are under way.

“Work on the project will probably begin in late 2015, under favorable conditions, and we have proposed building it in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat,” Thanh said.

Thanh lamented that Vietnam has not paid proper attention to the training of skilled workers for the nuclear power sector even though it aims to develop nuclear power plants in the central region.

There are no nuclear power experts, nor is there a specific strategy for training personnel for this industry at the moment, he pointed out, suggesting that the government should invest more in science and technology in order for the vision of nuclear power to be realized.

The Vietnamese government has approved a plan to put five nuclear power plants into operation in the central region between 2020 and 2030, given forecasts that the country will face a serious shortage of power by 2020.

Construction of the first two plants is expected to begin late next year and be completed by 2022, with power starting to be generated in late 2020.

Vietnam has decided to use Russian technology for the first facility and Japanese expertise for the other.

 

[Viet]

some BBC reports on Vietnam economy


Coffee beans perk up Vietnam economy

Winners and losers in Vietnam boom

 

[Viet]

Vietnam growth slows down

 

[visom]

Vietnam growth slows down

Viet, do you think Vietnam's slowing growth rate is due to lack of government competence? Or government not putting in enough effort?

 

[ViXuyen]

Your GDP can only grow so much with agriculture, services, and light manufacturing-based economy.

Without the massive manufacturing of electronic, automobiles, machineries; your GDP can't expand any further