VNBusinessNews – Viet Nam is making efforts to keep 2009 disbursements of foreign direct investment (FDI) at about the same level as last year, an investment official said this week.

FDI disbursement is expected to reach US$10 billion to $11 billion this year, compared to $11.5 billion in 2008, said Phan Huu Thang, head of the Planning and Investment Ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency.

The agency said it still forecast a high level of disbursement although it expected the total value of FDI promised to shrink because of the global economic turmoil.

Pledges of FDI to Viet Nam fell 88% in January from the same period last year. FDI last month totaled $200 million with the average project value being $3.5 million, the agency said.

At a conference in Hanoi last month, Thang said prospects for medium- and long-term investment projects in Viet Nam remained high as the country had major advantages such as political and economic stability and improved infrastructure and legal frameworks.

The large FDI inflows into Ba RiaVung Tau Province illustrated investor confidence, “making the situation this year not very pessimistic,” Thang told Thanh Nien Daily on Monday.

The southern coastal province Tuesday granted licenses to seven FDI projects worth more than $5 billion.

Le Kim Huong, director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment (DPI), said the tourism and entertainment complex Winvest has been approved to increase its investment capital to more than $4.1 billion from $300 million.

George V.H. Luu, CEO of Winvest Investment Company from the US, said Tuesday the company set aside funds for this project three years ago when the world economy was still doing well.

“Vietnam has such a wonderful location in Southeast Asia and it’s now a perfect time to invest here,” he said. “The economy is down but we think we can’t wait any longer as we strongly believe Vietnam’s economy will recover.”

The economy grew 6.23% last year after increasing at a record 8.5% in 2007, according to the General Statistics Office.

Two of the seven projects in Ba RiaVung Tau are new urban areas, including the $200 million, 154,500 square meter Vietstar complex in Vung Tau Town, Huong said.

Choi Keon-Up, president of South Korea’s A-Jung Engineering & Construction Co., the investor of the Vietstar project, said the economic crisis would not override the company’s investment decision as Viet Nam was a dynamic economy with great development potential.

“I believe that more investors will come to Viet Nam, especially in the sectors of construction and industry,” Choi said.

By the end of 2008, the province had a total of 238 FDI projects worth $18.4 billion, according to the province’s Department of Planning and Investment.

The scenarios in other localities are also quite good.

Lu Thanh Phong, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment, said some large project investors were going ahead with their plans, including Malaysian Berjaya Group which wants to build an international finance center in the city at a cost of more than $900 million.

Some large FDI projects in the southern province of Dong Nai are being assessed and are likely to be approved in February 2009, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

“The total capital will amount to billions of dollars and fall on some real estate projects,” Tuoi Tre quoted an official of Dong Nai Department of Planning and Investment as saying.

Last year, Viet Nam attracted a record FDI of $64 billion with the average capital of about $60 million a project, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said. (TN)