HCM CITY — The HCM City Stock Exchange-listed Hoang Anh Gia Lai plans to increase its investment in several neighbouring countries like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, according to its chief.
Chairman Doan Nguyen Duc said work would begin in July on two new hydropower plants in Laos that would cost a total of US$120 million and have a combined capacity of 120MW. They are expected to be built in two years.
HAGL was also investing in two mining projects in Laos, one for iron and the other for copper, and planting rubber trees on 31,000 ha in the border province of Attapeu, of which it has completed 12,000ha, he said.
"The (Lao) Government offers an eight-year corporate tax holiday while the land lease is cheap at $7 per ha annually," Duc said.
He revealed plans to develop a $100 million property comprising a five- star hotel, villas, and apartments for lease in the Lao capital Vientiane.
His company had projects worth US$450 million in that country, he said.
He was speaking to reporters on Tuesday on the occasion of the ground- breaking ceremony for a 200-bed hospital in Attapeu, which will serve locals as well as Vietnamese working in the rubber plantations.
The hospital is part of a larger, $30 million community development project that also includes a 100-m-long bridge (inaugurated on Tuesday), a settlement village with 250 houses, and an administrative centre for Phouvong District.
From August, HAGL will also begin to exploit an iron mine in Cambodia which is estimated to have a reserve of 30 million tonnes of ore. The project involves an investment of $20 million.
HAGL has got the licence to plant 15,000ha of rubber in that country. — VNS
