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VN Buss. News (Mar. 24/1997)
Mar 24: Malaysians' 1st hotel in Vietnam on track: Soft opening due in November
Mar 24: Vietnam fuel sale delay
Mar 24: Foreign workers restricted to three years in Vietnam
Mar 24: Thai Bank Predicts Record Investment in Vietnam
Mar 24: PetroVietnam To Short-List Cos For Four Oil Blocks In April
Mar 24: Vietnamese Official Speaks of Stable Dong
Mar 24: PetroVietnam Reiterates It Will Build Refinery Alone -Report
Mar 24: Vietnam Won't Share Gas With China In Disputed Waters
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Malaysians' 1st hotel in Vietnam on track: Soft opening due in November
By Achara Ashayagachat, Bangkok Post
Hanoi -- Malaysia's Renong Group will today inaugurate its first hotel in
Vietnam,
the five-star Hanoi Sheraton, according to company sources.
The hotel has been built for US$70 million by Vimas, in which a Renong
affiliate, the Faber Group, has a 70% stake, and Vietnam's Ho Tay Corp
has 30%.
Tran Luu Vy, chairman of the financial and administration department of
the Communist Party's central committee, will represent Ho Tay at the
ceremony. Dato Abdullah Mohd Yusof, chairman of the Vimas board of
management, will represent the Malaysians.
They will officially name the Sheraton as the hotel manager, according
to the sources.
The 18-storey, 299-room hotel near Hanoi's West Lake is scheduled for a
soft opening in November after interior decorations is completed.
Hanoi currently has only two five-star hotels, the Sofitel Metropole and
Hanoi Daewoo. Several three- and four-star hotels are being built this
year with investment from Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong.
Faber is one of Renong's 13 subsidiaries listed on the Malaysian share
market. The group owns and operates the eight-hotel Merlin chain.
The Hanoi Sheraton is Faber's second foreign venture, following a
400-room hotel in South Africa.
The Hanoi Sheraton is Renong's biggest investment in Vietnam, where the
group is involved in developing an industrial zone for $30 million and
a rice mill is in the southern province of Tien Giang for $3.6 million.
The Noi Bai industrial zone switched from being an export processing zone
to an industrial zone last year to tap a larger group of potential
customers for the 50-hectare first phase of its development.
Infrastructure for manufacturers has been completed.
The industrial zone will face competition from similar zones in northern
Vietnam, which are being developed by Japanese and Koreans.
Malaysia is the seventh-largest investor in Vietnam, with 56 projects
worth a total of $1.1 billion.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Vietnam fuel sale delay
Hanoi -- Distribution of petrol and diesel fuel in Vietnam is likely
to remain
closed to foreign companies at least until the nation's first oil
refinery is built, an official of Vietnam Oil & Gas (PetroVietnam)
said
yesterday.
The government has offered the right to distribute fuels to attract
foreign participation in the refinery, said Mr Nguyen Thanh Hai, a
deputy managing director at PetroVietnam responsible for product
distribution.
Mr Hai said the government would not allow a proposal from Shell to
form joint ventures with two state-owned companies to retail petrol in
Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The government was concerned about the
impact on domestic companies of competition from a large foreign
company.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Foreign workers restricted to three years in Vietnam
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam is to restrict foreign
workers to a maximum three-year stay and require them to
obtain a work permit from labour authorities, an official
said Monday.
Both expatriates and overseas Vietnamese working for joint
ventures or 100 percent foreign owned companies or local
companies will be restricted to a maximum of three years.
The decree becomes effective April. Existing workers will
have five months to apply for permits, the official said.
The new law is not expected to be well received by foreign
investors who roundly complain about Vietnam's bureaucracy.
"This adds one more level of red tape in an already
labryrinthine system," said one foreign lawyer.
The measure is part of a general crack down on foreign
businesses, many of which local authorities say routinely
violate the terms of their representative office licences.
Earlier this month, Vietnam increased maximum penalties for
representiatve office violations nearly 10-fold to 80,000
dollars.
In the most prominent case against a foreign company so
far, the representative office of Peregrine Capital Vietnam
was fined 100,000 dollars at the beginning of March.
According to the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper on Monday, there
are now 1,196 foreign representative offices in Ho Chi Minh
City, many of which violate terms of their licences, and
have been accused of failing to register their Vietnamese
employees.
The new labour restriction on foreign workers was announced
by the government last October, but will only be
implemented next month. There are an estimated 30,000
foreign workers in Vietnam.
It states that foreigners working in Vietnam must obtain a
work permit from the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and
Social Affairs (MOLISA), a senior official from the
ministry said.
Earlier this month deputy trade minister Mai Van Dau said
existing regulations on activities of companies engaged in
insurance, banking, tour agencies and advertising needed
tightening.
Foreigners working in Vietnam must renew their visas every
six months and are required to obtain residence permits.
The new decree does not apply to diplomats, journalists,
general directors of representative offices, and employees
of non-goverment organisations and members of boards of
foreign-owned companies are also exempt.
The cost of permits, which will be decided by the Finance
Ministry, is estimated to be around 18 dollars.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Thai Bank Predicts Record Investment in Vietnam
BANGKOK (Xinhua News) - Thailand's investment in Vietnam is
expected to hit 1 billion U.S. dollars, a record high since Thai
investors entered Vietnam 10 years ago, according to a leading Thai
commercial bank.
Thai investment proved most fruitful since 1993 as major Thai companies
penetrated into the Vietnamese market and businesses expanded to
include poultry processing and entertainment and sports facilities,
said the Bangkok Bank in a report release recently.
The year 1994 turned out to be the most active year for Thai investment
in Vietnam with 20 projects launched and 174.2 million dollars
involved.
The 20 projects included hotels, sports and recreation centers, a fish
net factory and two gas concerns, the bank said.
However, the bank pointed out that in 1995, the number of Thai
investment projects declined to 12, with the total investment value
posting 134 million dollars, but including a motorcycle parts
manufacturing plant, a glass factory, an electronics plant and a plain
factory.
Although official investment statistics on Thai investment in Vietnam
are not available for 1996, the bank said that as of July in the year,
one car project and one power project one launched by Thai investors
involved 214 million dollars. Enditem
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
PetroVietnam To Short-List Cos For Four Oil Blocks In April
HO CHI MINH CITY (DJ) -- State-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam)
expects to announce short-listed candidates for rights to four offshore blocks
in early April, Do Van Ha, the company's director of international
cooperation, said Monday.
The blocks in question are: 09-2, 09-3, 16-1 and 16-2. They are located off
Vietnam's southeast coast and in proximity to the Bach Ho (White Tiger) and
Rong (Dragon) fields that produce the bulk of the nation's crude oil.</p>
Ha said PetroVietnam is likely to short list three consortia for each block.
Currently, about 20 consortia are vying for rights to the blocks.</p>
It isn't clear how long it will take to award the blocks, Ha said in an
interview with Dow Jones, but he added 'we hope it will be faster than with
15-1.'</p>
Block 15-1, also off the southeast coast, is regarded as Vietnam's most
promising unawarded block. The award process for it, however, already has
lasted for around two years.</p>
Ha said a winning bidder for 15-1 will be announced 'very soon.'
Other PetroVietnam officials have indicated a consortium led by Conoco Inc.
of the U.S. is likely to be the winner.</p>
Separately, Ha said the start-up of a gas compression platform in the Bach
Ho field in May will lift daily associated gas production from the field to
3.0 million cubic meters from a current 2.0 million cubic meters.</p>
The associated gas is used as a feedstock for electric power plants.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Vietnamese Official Speaks of Stable Dong
Hanoi (WSJ) -- There aren't likely to be major changes in the value of the
dong in coming months, according to Nguyen Doan Hung, director of the
foreign-exchange department at the State Bank of Vietnam.
In an interview with the Thuong Mai newspaper published on Friday,
Mr. Hung said that while demand for imports is likely to remain brisk in
the coming months, there are likely to be countervailing incoming flows
of foreign exchange.
Inflows of direct foreign investment and foreign aid are expected to
increase.
The recent rescheduling of Vietnam's debt with the London Club of
commercial creditors will help cut the country's debt-servicing
requirements and make it possible to borrow more hard currency from
abroad, Mr. Hung said. "Therefore, there will be no big change in the
dong's exchange rate," he said.
Late Friday, the currency was trading at 11,655 dong to one U.S.
dollar, little changed from the previous day.
The dong has depreciated about 3.9% against the dollar since March 3,
when the central bank widened the dong's daily trading band.
"The State Bank won't let any major change in the exchange rate
happen," Mr. Hung said.
But in a remark that would seem to signal an acceptance of a weaker
dong, the central bank official also said: "The best exchange rate at
the present is a rate that can promote exports and control imports."
Vietnam's large trade deficit is generally considered to be the chief
factor behind the downward pressure on the dong in recent months. In
1996, Vietnam's trade deficit was nearly $4 billion, or about 17% of
gross domestic product.
There is no consensus among traders in Vietnam's interbank
foreign-exchange market on whether the State Bank -- despite the talk
about rate stability -- will engineer another devaluation of the dong by
widening the currency's trading band or adjusting the central rate that
determines the margins of the band.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
PetroVietnam Reiterates It Will Build Refinery Alone -Report
HO CHI MINH CITY (DJ) -- Although it will face financial challenges, the
government of Vietnam is determined to build the nation's first oil refinery
even without foreign participation, Ngo Thuong San, the president of Vietnam
Oil & Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam) said, according to an official media report
Monday.
Providing a glimpse into how the government plans to fund the project, San
said about 30% of the estimated $1.2-billion cost will be borne by
PetroVietnam, according to a report in The Saigon Times Daily.</p>
>From 1998 onward, PetroVietnam will be entitled to all so-called shared
profit from the VietSovPetro joint venture that produces the bulk of
Vietnam's crude, San said. This amounts to about $150 million a year, he
added.</p>
Overall, about half the estimated cost of the refinery is expected to come
from domestic sources, San said.</p>
'Thus capital isn't the unsolvable problem now,' San said.
Monday, Mar 24, 1997
Vietnam Won't Share Gas With China In Disputed Waters
HO CHI MINH CITY (DJ) -- Vietnam would 'never' sign a production-sharing
agreement
with China for hydrocarbon resources in disputed waters where a Chinese oil
rig recently began controversial drilling, a senior official of Vietnam
Oil & Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam) said Monday.
'The Vietnamese government would never sign a contract on production
sharing,' Vu Van Mao, director of PetroVietnam's information center, told
reporters.
'If someone came to your country and drilled and then asked you to
sign a contract, would you?' Mao said.
He was referring to hypothetical production from waters about midway
between the coast of central Vietnam and China's Hainan island. In early March,
Chinese rig Kantan-03 entered the waters to explore for oil and gas.
The Vietnamese government has demanded the withdrawal of the rig from what
it claims is its continental shelf. The Chinese government has disregarded the
Vietnamese protests, saying the waters are in its territorial zone.
Mao reiterated his government's opposition to the Chinese drilling. 'Another
country can't do anything in our shelf,' he said.