October 12, 2008

Opposition grows to planned POSCO mill in Vietnam

Chosun.com reported that POSCO is now facing difficulties with its proposed mill in Vietnam in addition to the deadlock in India.

Since last year, POSCO had been smoothly conducting a feasibility study of the construction of a steel mill near southern coastal Khanh Hoa Province's Van Phong Bay. But from early this year, POSCO has been facing stiff opposition from the local press and some Vietnamese government agencies over the proposed site of the mill.

According to POSCO and Vietnamese press on POSCO recently reached an agreement with the Vietnamese government to build the mill on a 9.6 million square meter lot in the vicinity of the bay. This area, which has a deep sea and beautiful scenery nearby, is part of a larger area where the Vietnamese government plans to build an international container ship terminal.

Strong opposition to the planned steel mill has been growing among the Vietnamese press, academics, and some government agencies. They are concerned that the mill would make it hard to expand the shipping terminal to meet the demands of the country's growing economy. They are also worried about possible environmental damages.

Since early this year, local oceanographers and environmental groups have sent letters to the government and the ruling Communist Party opposing the steel mill and demanding that the project be reconsidered. Some media outlets, including Tuoi Tre, a newspaper published in Ho Chi Minh City, have also expressed frank opposition.

A senior POSCO executive said that "We first began studying the feasibility of a steel mill in Vietnam at the request of the Vietnamese. We'll minimize any possible damage to the environment by using the environmentally-friendly FINEX process rather than the blast furnace process for the mill."