Foreign firms to supply equipment for Vietnam plant

The Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corporation (Vinaconex) has signed a contract with five foreign entrepreneurs to supply equipment and technical services for the Cam Pha Cement Factory, which is being built in northern Quang Ninh province.

Worth more than US$100m, the bid package is part of a US$150m credit loan with a grace period of three years fixed between Vinaconex and two French banks, Societe General and BNP Paribas.  The five companies are Fam, Loesche, Haver & Boecker (Germany), Kawasaki (Japan), and ABB (Switzerland).

The factory is expected to cost about VND4,700 billion (roughly US$302m) and be completed in 2007. It will be the largest cement factory in the country with a designed capacity of 2.3Mt of cement per
year.