Apr. 30 – Despite Ho Chi Minh City being able to successfully attract foreign investment, the disbursement of it has been lagging so far.
Vietnam’s economic hub, not including industrial parks and export processing zones, has attracted nearly US$26 billion in foreign direct investment since 1987 but only 39.6 percent of this amount, or US$10.1 billion, has been used.
According to Thanh Nien News, in District 2’s Thu Thiem new urban area, of the two FDI projects worth US$600 million from mid-2008; only US$51 million of it has been released.
The lag in disbursement is being blamed on the city’s infrastructure problems, shortage of skilled workers, and expensive real-estate prices.
The head of the Foreign Investment Agency, Phan Huu Thang, said that authorities should monitor FDI projects to anticipate problems and adding provinces and cities that do so have a high disbursement rate.
He added that city officials should select 50 major projects and give their investors support to help speed up the disbursement process.
