The Vietnamese government has just given the green light to the implementation of a Thai-invested project worth 1 billion US dollars on laminating steel in the central region, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times reported Monday.

Under the project invested by Tycoons Worldwide Group, a steel plant with an annual processing capacity of 5 million tons of steel billets will be built in the Dung Quat Economic Zone in central Quang Ngai province in the 2006-2015 period. Part of the plant is expected to become operational in mid-2009.

This is the second biggest project in the zone after a 2.5- billion-dollar oil refinery. Vietnam is building its first oil refinery with an annual processing capacity of 6.5 million tons, which is scheduled to become operational in late 2008 or early 2009, meeting about 40 percent of the local demand for petroleum products.

Now, Vietnam has to import around 80 percent of materials for steel production and a large volume of finished steel, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

It spent nearly 1.9 billion dollars in importing over 3.2 million tons of finished steel products, and materials for steel production and in the first seven months of this year, posting year-on-year rises of 14.3 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

Source: Xinhua