On January 6, the Quang Tri Provincial Economic Zone Management Board confirmed that it had requested the Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee to consider adjusting the progress of the Vietnam-Laos Petroleum Depot project.
The above project is invested by Vietnam-Laos Petroleum Investment Joint Stock Company, and was granted an investment policy decision by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province in March 2019. The project has a total investment capital of 470 billion VND, a land area of 16.9 hectares, and a total warehouse capacity of 200,000 m3.
Up to now, only the project's phase 1 leveling work of 4.4 hectares on shore has been completed; the breakwater construction is currently being organized, reaching 40% of the project volume; the embankment is being cast, reaching 50% of the project volume.
According to the proposed schedule, this project is 3 years behind schedule in completing and putting the first phase into operation compared to the project implementation schedule in the first investment policy decision (1.2021 to complete and put the first phase into operation) and 6 months behind schedule in the first investment policy adjustment approval decision (7.2024 to complete and put the first phase into operation).
The reasons for the project's delay are said to be due to problems that have prolonged site clearance; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; there is no road to transport materials and equipment to the project area; and the fire prevention and fighting approval procedure has lasted from November 2020 to November 2023 to be completed.
In addition, due to the consulting unit's explanation and completion of the fire prevention and fighting appraisal dossier not being guaranteed and not being timely; the Company's proposed investment policy (project implementation scope) was missing compared to the planning dossier, not ensuring the conditions for leasing land to build items such as embankments, oil import and export ports, so the project scope had to be adjusted (increasing the area from 16.93ha to 17.93ha); the investor was not really determined and drastic in speeding up the progress of the project implementation in phase 1.
Currently, the investor has a commitment to the project implementation progress with a detailed implementation plan for each construction item. In particular, the commitment is to complete and put phase 1 of the project into operation in July 2026. If the phase 1 construction items are not completed by the above time, no further progress adjustment will be requested but the investment project will be terminated.
"The biggest difficulties and obstacles have been resolved, and recently the investor has made efforts to implement the project. To facilitate the investor to implement the project and have a basis to continue construction, we have requested the Provincial People's Committee to consider adjusting the project implementation progress according to regulations" - said the leader of the Quang Tri Economic Zone Management Board.
