Taiwan investor gets nod for steel mill expansion
By Quoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – The Taiwanese-invested Guang Lian steel project will scale up its output to seven million tons per year and its investment to US$4.5 billion from the current US$3 billion, as approved by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The ministry has sent a report to the Government approving the expansion following an earlier endorsement of the 
Ministry of Industry and Trade allowing the steel mill in Dung Quat Economic Zone to raise its output from five to seven million tons, according to the website of Dung Quat Economic Zone Authority.
The investor is awaiting the Government’s formal approval, said Le Van Dung, deputy director of the Dung Quat Economic Zone Authority.
The site for the work and a private port for importing raw materials like iron ore and coke, and exporting steel products, will also be expanded to 504 hectares from the initial 478 hectares. Equipment and technology have also been changed to facilitate larger capacity.
However, the company would develop the first phase of the project on 330 hectares, Dung said.
The company, established by Taiwan steel firms Tycoons and E-United, re-ignited the project in March after putting it on hold for about two years, and is constructing a drainage system as well. The company has recently sent a report to the government of Quang Ngai Province on the progress of the project.
The report says the steelworks in the central coast province will be up and running in early 2013, and will run at full capacity in 2016.
The initially-planned project was licensed in September 2006 and was to be developed by Tycoons only, with investment capital of nearly US$1.04 billion. But the cost of the project was revised up by three times to more than US$3 billion in 2007 when Tycoons teamed up with Taiwan’s E-United Steel Company.
Related to steel projects, authorities of the central province of Ninh Thuan will likely revoke the license of the foot-dragging Cana Steel Complex, a huge project worth up to US$9.8 billion, as both time and patience are running out.
Cana steel project was expected to cover 1,650 hectares of land and 330 hectares of the sea surface in Ninh Thuan Province. It is the biggest steel project so far in Vietnam and also the largest-ever foreign-invested project.
The Cana Steel Complex’s investors, namely Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) and Maju Stabil Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia’s Lion Group, began work on the steel complex in late 2008.
The complex was designed to have a capacity of 14.4 million tons of steel per year, including an initial output of 4.5 million tons per year in the first phase after 2011. Key products would be hot- and cold-rolled coils, steel plates, galvanized and coated coils, H- and I-beams, and pipes.
The project’s supporting facilities were to include two 1,450MW power plants and a seaport with annual throughput of 50 million tons.
According to the province, it is looking for new investors to restart the project instead of simply terminating the project.