VINACHEM

Business Monitor International (BMI) said that with increased foreign investment, there are signs that Vietnam is now moving in the right direction in invoking structures to improve the business environment such as public private partnership (PPP) regimes.

In its Vietnam Infrastructure Report Q3 2010 posted on May 19, 2010 on "Companiesandmarkets.com", the BMI added that although its business environment score stayed more or less at 50.8, Vietnam, like other countries in the Asia - Pacific region, started to see stronger growth as economic conditions improved. The country's infrastructure market scored well; however, downside risks from market volatility could drag down the overall score.

According BMI's latest report, major infrastructure projects were thick on the ground this quarter, as both transport and energy developments were announced.

In March 2010, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved 18.09 billion USD for the construction and development of the road system in the country. The plans include development of over 5,000km of roads within the country.

In the power sector, Vinh Tan 3 Energy Joint Stock Company (VTEC) was approved to develop the country's largest thermal power project. The project, worth 2.5 billion USD, is expected to start in late 2011 and the plant is likely to come online in 2014- 15.

The BMI forecast that the construction industry would value at 126 trillion VND (6.57 billion USD) in 2010 and 260 trillion VND (13.9 billion USD) in 2014./.

(Source: http://en.vietnamplus.vn)