Vietnam started work on the country' s first pipe-coating plant, with investment of 520 billion Vietnamese dong (28.5 million U.S. dollars), local newspaper the Labor reported Monday. The plant is expected to turn out 240 kilometers of coated pipe a year for use in the gas industry, meeting most of domestic demand, said Nguyen Mau Dung, General Director of the company. Vietnam currently imports all of its coated pipes, according to Dung. The plant will also provide pipe coating service, helping local companies lower cost compared to hiring this service from foreign companies, said the newspaper. The plant will be developed on an area of seven hectares in the Phu My One Industrial Park of the country's southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau. It is scheduled to be put into operation in May 2010. 