Newsletter
Vietnam Infrastructure Spotlight - November 2022
Freshfields' Vietnam Infrastructure Spotlight keeps you up-to-date with the key business and legal developments in this sector. Please contact us if you would also like to receive our Vietnam M&A Spotlight, Vietnam Environment Spotlight or Vietnam Competition Law Spotlight.
PUBLICATION - AIRPORTS
We are pleased to share the article in Vietnam Investment Review recently written by Tony Foster, Managing Partner of our Vietnam offices. Tony delves into future opportunities and possible risks about the private airport expansion in Vietnam, and lessons learnt from other countries. Source: Vietnam Investment Review
MARKET UPDATES
Aviation
- Delayed and cancelled. IPP Air Cargo is seeking permission to withdraw its application to establish a cargo airline in Vietnam, citing negative impacts of worsening economic conditions, looming global recession, and volatile fuel prices, all of which will result in numerous challenges for global freighters. Earlier in January, IPP Air Cargo filed for a cargo flight permit with a project to invest US$96.5 million. Source: Vietnam Plus
- Clearing the runway. Around 4.5 hectares of military land needs to be handed over to Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to develop the terminal 3 project at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The local government in Tan Binh District has been instructed to complete all relevant procedures, decide on land reclamation and compensation, and then send a report of the results to the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Source: The Saigon Times
- Long run. Public investment alone is insufficient to finance new airport infrastructure, exposing the need for more favourable policies to draw in private investment. For the 2021-2030 period, total capital needs for airport infrastructure are projected to top VND403 trillion (US$16.2 billion). As ACV has planned to contribute VND265 trillion and the Ministry of Transport (MoT) can chip in VND9.8 trillion, VND128 trillion needs to be raised from the private sector. Source: Bizhub
Renewable Energy
- Monopile. Vietnam’s Doosan Vina and Denmark’s Ørsted have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on developing the wind power supply chains off the Vietnamese coast. Under the MoU, Ørsted and Doosan Vina agree to engage in non-legally binding discussions to develop the offshore wind foundation supply chain in Vietnam with a primary focus on the offshore foundation structure monopile. Doosan Vina is also considering producing fuel cells and hydrogen in line with the commitments of the Government on a carbon-neutral future by 2050. Source: Nhan Dan
- Monopoly. Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has been requested to follow the solar power purchase contract signed with Trung Nam Group. From 1 September 2022, EVN stopped purchasing 172.12 MW from the Trung Nam-Thuan Nam solar power plant's 450 MW capacity, as there was no pricing mechanism. Source: The Investor
LNG
- Looking for markets. Novatek, Russia's second-largest natural gas producer, is considering shipping LNG to Vietnam for existing and future power plants. Last December, Novatek signed a cooperation agreement with state-run PetroVietnam on developing LNG and power projects in Vietnam, which is seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Source: The Investor
- Looking at risks. The consortium of PV Power, Colavi, Tokyo Gas and Marubeni has received a business registration certificate from Quang Ninh for its 1.5GW LNG-to-power in the province. The consortium received an investment license nearly a year ago for the project, which would be the first power plant using imported LNG in the northern region. Source: The Investor
Oil & Gas
- Managed decline. The National Assembly (NA) passed the amended Petroleum Law on 14 November 2022 to grant the Government additional powers to better manage and utilise Vietnam's petroleum resources. Source: Bizhub
Power
- Shifting. Authorities in Quang Binh province are accelerating procedures to turn EVN’s 1.2GW Quang Trach II coal-fired power project into LNG to match Vietnam’s cleaner energy transition. Quang Trach II is one of the four LNG-to-power power projects added to the draft PDP VIII. Source: The Investor
- Removing. The MoIT has proposed removing five thermal power plant projects from the PDPVIII, unless investors commit to arranging enough capital. The projects combine four with foreign capital, namely Song Hau 2, Nam Dinh 1, Vinh Tan 3, and Quang Tri 1, while Cong Thanh is funded by a local investor. Source: Vietnam Investment Review
Seaports
- New waves. The MoT submitted a report requesting approval to implement the master plan for Vietnam’s seaport system for the 2021-2030 period. In the report, the MoT announced three lists of investment projects to develop seaport infrastructure, comprising 18 public investment projects in the maritime sector worth over US$1 billion; a list of four work clusters for leasing and exploiting port infrastructure; and a list of seven projects and project clusters with non-budget capital of US$13 billion. Source: Vietnam Investment Review
- Old ripples. The Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC) has sent to relevant ministries a plan to restructure the Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) from now to 2025. VIMC has completed a collection of comments on its restructuring plan in 2021-2025 in which it proposes divestments in order to cut state ownership from 99.4 per cent to 65 per cent. Source: Vietnam Net
Mining
- Scrap merchant. Masan Group looks forward to the government’s support in ensuring raw material supply for its key tungsten scrap recycling project that seeks to turn Vietnam into a tungsten recycling technology hub. By 2027, Masan aims to be the world's leading supplier of high-tech materials, and an innovation leader in global consumer technology products with high-efficiency rechargeable Li-ion battery being the first-to-market. Source: Bizhub
Data Centres
- Catching up. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has published a full version of the draft Law on Telecommunications for a two-month public consultation. The deadline for comment submission to the MIC is 27 December 2022. The draft law would replace the 2010 Law on Telecommunications. The aim is to broaden the scope of the existing law by covering, among other things, data centre services, cloud-computing businesses and OTT communication services. It also contains extra-territorial applicability in respect of those services.
- The present. New data centres are popping up in Vietnam’s major cities. Vietnam currently has 27 data centres. The unveiling of new data centre plans in Vietnam is increasing rapidly, with the entry of a series of international and domestic corporations claiming to be building the biggest and best facilities. Names include CMC Data Centre Tan Thuan and Gaw Capital Partners’ Level 3 Data Centre, Amazon’s proposed data centre in Hanoi, and NTT Telecommunications’ data centre in Saigon Hi-Tech Park. Source: Vietnam Investment Review
- The future. The data centre market in Vietnam is forecast to record a compound annual growth rate of 14.6 per cent, reaching US$1.6 billion by 2025. Source: Vietnam Net
