HCMC – Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Co. is speeding up construction of its huge steel complex in Ky Anh District of Ha Tinh Province with an aim to turn out the first products by 2014, said an executive of the company.
By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Co. is speeding up construction of its huge steel complex in Ky Anh District of Ha Tinh Province with an aim to turn out the first products by 2014, said an executive of the company.
Chu Xuan Pham, an expert of the company, told the Daily that the company is filling up the land for the steel complex covering over 2,000 hectares and dredging a coastal area of 1,300 hectares for building Son Duong port.
The land leveling and seaport dredging will be completed by the end of this year, soon to be followed up by the construction of some main components of the project such as steel production facilities, a seaport and a thermo-electricity plant.
Pham said the steel complex, with annual capacity of 7.5 million tons, would commission the first-phase production in 2014 as committed by the investor to local authorities last year.
“The company is mobilizing all resources to construct the complex so as to have the first products by 2014,” said Pham.
The company broke ground for the steel complex in mid-2008 with an aim to complete first-phase construction within three years. Due to the foot-dragging site clearance, however, the project’s cost has been revised up to US$8.9 billion from the initial estimate of US$7.9 billion.
It was not until late last year when local authorities were able to hand over some 3,300 hectares of cleared land encompassing five wards in Ky Anh District to Formosa for the project construction.
Pham said the complex would not produce construction steel because of an oversupply on the local market. Formosa will produce hot-rolled steel sheets and high-tech steel bars to supply the local market and export to foreign markets. He said the company would buy around five million tons of iron ore each year from the nearby Thach Khe mine in the years to come.
Beside the construction of the steel complex, Formosa is preparing to build a thermo-power plant with a designed capacity of 750MW to supply power for the whole complex and Son Duong Port. This port will have an annual loading capacity of over 30 million tons and will also be completed in 2014.
The company expected to raise the total investment capital of the project to US$16 billion in the second phase, according to Pham.
An official of the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) said the steel complex of Formosa would help satisfy the domestic demand for high-tech steel products in industrial production.