The plant was scheduled to finished mechanical instalment before August 30 and trial performance before November 15, 2011.

Hai said the issuance of management regulations for equipment and workers should be prepared and accounting procedures should be in place to oversee the trial.

The Ministry of Construction was assigned to coordinate with the State Appraisal Council to inspect, check and conduct appraisal works, while the Ca Mau People’s Committee and local authorities were reminded to coordinate with the project’s Management Unit to ensure trial security.

Located in southern Ca Mau province’s U Minh district, 380 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City and with the investment capital of $900 million, plant construction work started in July 2008, to help fuel the nation’s massive agricultural sector.

The Ca Mau plant is being built under an engineering, procurement and construction contract between investor PetroVietnam and Wuhuan Engineering Co, Ltd, and China National Machinery Import-Export Corporation.

It will produce 800,000 tonnes of fertiliser per year supplied from PM3-CAA oil field offshore of Vietnam.

The plant is a part of PetroVietnam’s combined Ca Mau gas-power-fertiliser project and is a particularly important project under its downstream development strategy and also a driving force for economic development of the western part of the south and that nationwide.

The plant is designed with technology from Haldor Topsoe (Denmark) and Snamprogetty (Italy) and SNC Lavalin is acting as a consultant.

The current Phu My fertiliser plant and the Ca Mau facility will produce 1.5 million tonnes of fertiliser per year, meeting 60 per cent of the country’s demand.