The local authorities will also focus on reviewing the progress of licensed projects so that any difficulties that investors encounter in developing projects can solved in a time manner. Also, investment licences might even be revoked if investors fail to implement projects as planned.

In 2012-14, the authorities examined 111 sluggish projects and decided to withdraw the licences of 60 of these.

Since the beginning of this year, Nghe An has licensed 93 projects with a combined capital of more than VND27.8 trillion (US$1.28 billion). While $1.25 billion came from 73 new projects, $29.5 million came from 20 existing projects that had raised their capital levels, vietnamplus.vn reported, citing departmental statistics.

The sizeable projects under construction include the Hoa Son Cassava Powder Factory, which will have a production capacity of 150 tonnes per day, the Song Lam Cement Factory with a capital of VND10.5 trillion ($486.1 million), and the Hoa Sen Steel Sheet Factory.

Earlier, the central province said it had set a target of attracting around VND100 trillion ($4.7 billion) in investment, including VND50 trillion from foreign direct investment (FDI), in the 2015-20 period.

To achieve this aim, the province will implement measures to lure investment, as Nghe An considers it a key task in spurring local socio-economic development.

Besides facilitating the operations of investors by zoning land for them, offering them incentives and assisting them in recruiting workers and sourcing building material, the province will continue improving its investment environment with the aim of becoming one of the top 30 provinces and cities in the country in the provincial competitiveness index.