Controversial steel project creeps into draft zoning plan

In the draft zoning plan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade encourages investors to build steel complexes in coastal areas with deep seaports. Coastal areas have vast land but it is not suitable for food crops, the ministry reasons.

The Ca Na steel project has an annual capacity of 16 million tons and costs more than VND230 trillion (US$10 billion).

According to the draft zoning plan, when phase one of the big-ticket project will be developed has not been decided by Hoa Sen. The project is planned to be carried out in five phases.

A tourist is seen at Ca Na beach in Thuan Nam District, Ninh Thuan Province. Hoa Sen Group’s steel project in Ca Na, Thuan Nam District, Ninh Thuan Province has been put in a draft zoning plan for Vietnam’s steel sector until 2025

The second phase is expected to be complete by 2022, the third phase by 2025, the fourth phase by 2028 and the fifth phase by 2031.

At an extraordinary general meeting on September 6, Hoa Sen Group shareholders approved the Ca Na steel project.

At a recent Q&A session of the National Assembly, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the country would not implement industrial projects that are harmful to the environment and that no interest groups could influence the project approval process.     

The ministry wants to seek sustainable growth for major industrial sectors and extract natural resources efficiently.  

When news about the Ca Na steel complex surfaced, experts raised the alarm over possible heavy pollution, which is evident in the Formosa steel complex’s dumping toxic industrial waste into the sea, causing mass fish deaths on the central coast.

In a recent report on prospects for the steel sector, the ministry forecast that Vietnam would lack some 15 million tons of steel ingots by 2020 and the figure would rise to over 20 million tons by 2025. Trade deficit which the steel sector might cause is expected to amount to billions of US dollars.