Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) has been authorized to build the two shipyards, each on more than 200 hectares and valued at about USD 50 million, but no work has been carried out at the sites for years.

The provincial authorities are now considering removing Vinashin from the projects and offering the sites to other investors.

At the Soai Rap site in Tien Giang Province, Vinashin has chopped down 285 hectares of forest in Go Cong Dong District, filled the swampy area with sand and leveled the site with bulldozers. But apart from this, Vinashin has done no other preparation for the project, not even submitting the design documents required to receive an investment license.

Do Tan Minh, deputy secretary of the province’s Communist Party committee, said Tien Giang was considering suspending the project and offering the investment license to a new investor. Unlike the Soai Rap project, Vinashin does have an investment license for the second stalled project, the Nam Can site in Ca Mau Province.

The Cau Mau provincial government allotted Vinashin 220 hectares to build a VND850 billion (USD47.8 million) shipbuilding complex, which was due to begin operating in late 2009. The project was approved in 2003 but the Nam Can site still has not been cleared of its trees.

Do Van Ket, a representative of Vinashin in Ca Mau, explained the delay was the result of his company being unable to coordinate with other agencies as previously planned. Vietnam already has more than 60 shipbuilding and repair yards operated by Vinashin, including several facilities owned by the ministries of defense, fisheries and transport.