VietNamNet Bridge –
The consequences of the power cuts have become so serious that foreign invested
enterprises (FIEs) have lodged complaints to the government and local
authorities, warning that the power cuts are worsening the investment
environment in Vietnam.

The meeting
between many foreign invested factories and the leaders of Bac Ninh province,
where many industrial zones are located, was filled with a lot of complaints
from foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) that the regular power cuts have made
their production stagnant.

Representative
of Samsung Electronics Vietnam said the company is planning to build up a production
complex which makes information technology (IT) products in Bac Ninh province
by expanding the operational factory. However, the regular power cuts have made
the managers of the companies worried stiff, because the power cuts may cause
the business plan to fail.

Shim Won
Hwan, General Director of Samsung Electronics Vietnam, recently sent a letter
to Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, complaining about the power cuts. The
letter wrote that the company’s mobile phone production factory in Yen Phong
Industrial Zone has become operational with the capacity of six million
products per month, while the output may increase to 11 million products per
month. The turnover of the company is 10 million dollars per day. However, the
operational factory is troubled because of the insufficient power for daily
production. The prolonged and unexpected power cuts  in peak production hours have caused many
troubles, including computer errors, jammed materials or automatic equipment
problems, thus reducing the quality of the products. The general director has
complained that the production of the company has been severely affected by the
power cuts.

Many other
FIEs have also sent letters to the Bac Ninh People’s Committee, requesting to
release clear power cut schedules, so that they can take initiative in their
production plans. Sachio Kageyama, general director of Canon Vietnam has
said that the power cuts have upset the production at two Canon’s factories in
Tien Son and Que Vo Industrial Zones.

A manager
of Toyo Ink has also expressed their worry about the power cuts. He has warned
that while Bac Ninh is trying to call for foreign investment, the serious
electricity shortage may keep investors away.

In fact,
FIEs well understand that power cuts are unavoidable. They just ask local
authorities and power companies to announce the power cut plans and follow the
announced plans.

“We want
the power companies to notify us about the power cut plan one week, or one
month in advance, so that we can reasonably arrange our production plans,” the
manager of Toyo said.

Samsung SDI
Vietnam has also sent a document to the Bac Ninh provincial authorities
recently, requesting to change the rotate power cut schedule, which has been
seriously affecting its production.

There are
15 industrial zones in Bac Ninh province which cover an area of 7000 hectares.
The zones have attracted 480 investment projects with a registered capital of
3.54 billion dong, including 245 operational projects.

Lai Dac
Binh, Deputy Director of Bac Ninh Power Company, said that in 2011, the
province is allocated a high volume of power but the volume is insufficient for
the high demand. At times the power consumption in March was 320MW, while the
biggest allocated consumption capacity is 257.53 MW.  This has forced the company to cut down consumption
by 20 percent.

Power cuts are
not only a problem for enterprises in Bac Ninh province, but of enterprises
nationwide. The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) once
expressed its worry about the power cuts in the three summer months. “The
garment production areas are moving to the central region, where power cuts
occur regularly. Power cuts are our big worry for the coming months,” said Le
Tien Truong, Deputy General Director of VInatex.

Tuyet Ngan