The city would be under the jurisdiction of the Quang Ngai provincial authorities.

The industrial hub would help increase foreign investment, they said.

Currently, the Dung Quat economic zone has many industrial enterprises and manufacturing factories, employing a total of 15,000 workers.

The building of the Van Tuong new urban area covering 3,828ha in the zone is underway. When the construction of the urban area is completed, the Dung Quat economic zone will include a township, 24 communes and a projected population of 225,000.

Experts with the Ministry of Planning and Investment said the conversion of Dung Quat economic zone into an industrialised city would help attract more investment capital into the local industry, services, trade and tourism.

As of August, the Dung Quat economic zone had 147 FDI projects with a registered capital of USD10 billion.

Over the last three years, the zone has contributed 50 per cent of the province’s budget.

The Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) is planning to expand the Dung Quat oil refinery in an effort to increase its capacity from 2.5 million tonnes in 2009 to 8-10 million tonnes in the next few years.

The building of a petrochemical complex and the construction of a deepwater port at My Han Bay to accommodate vessels of up to 250,000-300,000 DWT will also help the zone attract major foreign-invested projects.

The zone is expected to attract USD15 billion in foreign investment capital by 2015 and USD20 billion by 2020. Dung Quat is known as the country’s most successful economic zone.