by Trinh Anh Duc
15-2-2001
Although two U.S. consulting and construction firms signed contracts during President Clinton's historic trip to Vietnam November 17-20, 2000, the floodgates were not expected to open for new American firms. Companies that already have done business there are probably the ones with a leg up.
"To be successful in Vietnam you need lots of patience, active support form your government, a Vietnamese representative who understands both the western and local ways of doing business and a bit of luck," said Charles A. Sinunu, the international sales manager for Ellicott International out of Baltimore, USA.
Ellicott has designed and built dredges since 1885, and has a long history of delivering dredging equipment to Vietnam. During Clinton's visit, the firm signed two contracts with the Ministry of Communications and Transport for two cutterhead dredges, spare parts and training. The combined contracts were for $3 million. The dredges were purchased by two operating units of Vietnam Waterway Construction Company, Vinawaco, a government dredging and construction company under the jurisdiction of the communications and transport ministry.
The two dredges initially would be used to rebuild irrigation networks in the Mekong River Delta destroyed by the flooding in the autumn of 2000. The contracts provided for a transfer of technology to Vietnam so that the dredges could be completed there under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications and Transport and delivered to Vinawaco in early 2001. Ellicott provided all of the machinery.
Clinton's visit reinforced the potential for a stronger economic relationship between the two countries stemming from their July 13, 2000 bilateral trade agreement. However, American firms are not the only ones looking for a piece of the pie. With much of the investment in Vietnam financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the competition for work has an international flavour.
The Vietnamese appreciate the technical support we provide," said Fred Berger, a vice president with the Louis Berger Group Inc., of East Orange, NJ, USA. But that does not mean a lion's share of the work goes to the U.S. Berger contended that the competition from other countries was already stiff.
"The Japanese are competing extremely aggressively," he noted.
The Berger Group and Stanley Consultants, Inc, of Muscatine, Iowa, USA, along with Vietnam's Transport Engineering Design Corp., won a contract in November 2000 to provide detailed design and construction supervision services for the Asian Development Bank-financed Vietnam East Transport Corridor in Quang Tri province. Berger was also working with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration on a World Bank-financed effort to improve the infrastructure around Hanoi. The ongoing project, which targeted about 17 sites around the city, included the upgrading highway interchanges and road work.
The Louis Berger Group also has been carrying out numerous other major projects in Vietnam financed by the ADB and the World Bank: The Red River Delta Water Resources Sector Project, the Vietnam Rehabilitation (water resources) Project, and the construction of the Hai Van Pass Tunnel, to name three. Louis Berger in late february 2001 also was the sub-consultant to its Canadian affiliate, Klohn Crippen Consultants Ltd., which submitted a proposal to carry out an ADB-financed Technical Assistance as one part of the Capacity Building for Water Resources Management Project. This technical assistance would assist the ADB and the Vietnamese government to develop a water resources investment strategy for the central region of Vietnam. They would be assisted by Green Dragon Engineering Consultant Services Company, a Vietnamese consulting firm. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) did indicate to the ADB this consortium was their most favoured to carry out this technical assistance. However, the ADB would have the final say on selection of the international consultant.