The Ministry of Planning and Investment has ordered all localities to send reports on their foreign-direct-investment (FDI) projects worth at least US$100 million or covering an area of over 50ha.

The report is required to explain how investors are using land and obeying Land Law regulations, how they are implementing their commitments to finishing projects as scheduled and how they are following the Labour Code.

They will also report on difficulties the projects have faced and solutions they found to these problems.

Localities have to send their report to the ministry before June 30.

Statistics from the ministry's Foreign Investment Agency show that many relatively young FDI projects, worth billions of US dollars, have had their licences revoked for operational delays.

The suspended projects include Ca Na Steel Complex in central Ninh Thuan Province (worth $9.8 billion), Dragon Beach Eco-Tourism Complex in central Quang Nam Province (worth $4 billion) and Creative Cities in central Phu Yen Province ($1.68 billion).

Two weeks ago, southern Kien Giang Province lost its license for the development of the Asian Pearl Luxury Resort, which should have brought $2.6 billion in investment, for being sluggish.

The project was registered by the Switzerland-based Trustee Suisee Group and the Viet Nam Construction and Import – Export Joint Stock Corporation in the province in 2007.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Van Thi told Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper that the investors continually failed to provide a detailed plan for the building of the resort meeting the requirements of the committee, despite having several years to prepare.

They seemed to be making no progress, so the province decided to withdraw their project license, he said.

According to a report of the ministry's Foreign Investment Agency, over the past 25 years, total FDI capital registered to be invested in the country was $211 billion, but in reality only $98 billion was disbursed, accounting for only 47 per cent of the sum.

Nguyen Mai, President of the Viet Nam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, said that investors with sluggish projects should be removed to make room for more willing investors. — VNS