VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung did not agree to a huge steel project in Dam Mon, Van Phong Bay, in the central province of Khanh Hoa, according to an announcement released by the Government Office on Thursday.

Posco planed to build its steel in the area for future development of the Van Phong entrepot.

The PM said that this project, invested in by the South Korean Posco group, will affect the potential and future development of the Van Phong International Container Deport Entrepot. Moreover, the steel project does not support the regulations of strict sea environmental protection in this area.

For these reasons, the PM did not approve the project and he assigned Khanh Hoa province to respond to the Korean investor and ask them to seek another place for this project.

In early 2008, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Van Phong International Container Entrepot was canceled because Posco and Khanh Hoa authorities proposed building a large steel complex there.

Under Posco’s proposal, the first phase of the construction of a steel factory with an annual capacity of 4 million tons of steel and a power plant of 1,100 MW will be completed in December 2012, if the construction starts in April 2009, at a cost of $5.378 billion.

In the second phase, this factory will yield 8 million tons of steel per year, with investment capital of $4.329 billion. This project will need 903ha of land, covering most of the area of the planned for the Van Phong entrepot, while its logistic area will be based in the Van Phong Economic Zone.

This event triggered media controversy and disagreement by experts, managers, scientists, scholars and the public.

PV