VN Business News 02/08/97

[Dam Son <son@u.washington.edu>]

Vietnam Absorbs over $90 Mln in July 
Vietnam Awards Sumitomo Construction JV Road Bid 
Vietnam-Cambodia Cable to Operate Next January 

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Vietnam Absorbs over $90 Mln in July 

HANOI (Aug. 2) XINHUA - Vietnam absorbed a total of 94.2 million U.S.
dollars in foreign investment in July with 15 foreign invested
projects licensed by the government, according to the Ministry of
Planning and Investment.

The 15 new programs have brought to 163 the total number of foreign
invested projects, which have been licensed by the Vietnamese
government so far this year.

The combined capital has reached more than 1.64 billion dollars, with
foreign investors coming from 25 nations and regions.

Of the projects, 84 are involved in the industrial sector with capital
totaling more than 585.3 million dollars and 20 in construction with
86.2 million dollars.

Other projects are in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, oil and gas
industry, and food processing industry.

The capital city of Hanoi drew the biggest amount of foreign
investment, which has reached 443.7 million dollars over the past
seven months. It was followed by Hai Phong with more than 199 million
dollars and Ho Chi Minh City with 194.4 million dollars.

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Vietnam Awards Sumitomo Construction JV Road Bid 

Hanoi, July 31 (Dow Jones) -- A joint venture between Japan's Sumitomo
Construction (J.SMO) and Vietnam Civil Engineering Construction
Corporation 8 was Friday awarded a $36 million contract to build 13
kilometers of Highway 5 linking Hanoi and Haiphong, a government
official confirmed Saturday.

The section starts near the Nomura Industrial Zone, on the outskirts
of Haiphong, and ends at the Chua Ve container port.

The eight-lane 34 meter wide road is expected to be finished in the
year 2,000. The money for the rebuilding was provided by Taiwan's
International Cooperation Development Fund and Japan's Overseas
Economic Cooperation Fund.

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Vietnam-Cambodia Cable to Operate Next January 

Ho Chi Minh City, July 31 (JapanBiz Tech) -- The Vietnamese and
Cambodian post offices have decided to continue building a cable line
across their joint border via the Moc Bai border gate and bring it
into operation in the first quarter of 1998, despite the current
political stability in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, an
official source in Ho Chi Minh City said.

Nguyen Minh Tuyet, vice director of Vietnam's International Telecom
Corp., told reporters that at the request of the Cambodian Post
Ministry, the Vietnamese Post Office will help it design and construct
the cable line, as well as supply equipment.

Tuyet said the cable line will have a capacity of 155Mbps. She said
Vietnam will choose a third foreign partner to help build the line,
but she did not disclose the name of that partner. She also said that
after the project is finished, which tentatively is in the first
quarter of 1998, Cambodia will organize staff to run it.

Hem Saem, Consul General of Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, told BizTech
that Cambodia's first priority is to share contacts with the
international community. "In 1996, although we faced a financial
shortage, we spent US$50 million on telecommunications projects," he
said.

The trans-Cambodia cable line from Thailand, via Phnom Penh, to Svay
Rieng province is about 630km long, a source said. The project is part
of the circular cable line from the west to the east of the Mekong
sub-region initiated by the Mekong Sub-region Telecom Cooperation
Forum.

So far three companies have registered to take part in the bidding to
supply equipment: Siemens AG of Germany, Bosch Telecom GmbH of Germany
and Alcatel Telecom of France.

"We want to call for foreign investors to come to Cambodia, not only
in the telecom industry, but in all economic areas," Hem Saem said. He
added that telecommunications is one of first priorities for which
Cambodia will call for foreign investment. The Cambodian government
has sent an open letter to foreign investors to affirm that conditions
are safe for them to do business in Cambodia, he said.

The Vietnam National Post and Telecom Corp. said it is readying a
project to build a cable line linking Vietnam with the Se-Me-We3
international oceanic cable system.

Tuyet said the Se-Me-We3 project has investment capital of more than
US$1 billion. It will link Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, with
the Middle East and Western Europe. Tuyet said Vietnam will integrate
into this network via a gateway in Danang. Vietnam will contribute
about US$34 million to the project.

Tuyet said Vietnam has now completed the organization of the bids for
construction and equipment supply. He said construction of the project
will start in October 1997.

(David Tran)
Biztech Asia Correspondent

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