The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) money into the southern province of Dong Nai reached US$186.4 million in the first two months of this year, three times higher than in the same period last year.

Of that amount, $149 million came from 15 newly licensed projects while the remaining $37.4 million was added to nine existing projects, the provincial Department of Planning and Investment said. The projects are in the fields of high technology and supporting industries, including some environmentally friendly projects.

The department said the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan and Singapore were the province’s three main sources of FDI in the period.

New projects include the RoK-invested Chang Shin Vietnam manufacturing plant in Tan Phu Industrial Zone (IZ) with a registered capital of $100 million, a $10 million footwear factory financed by Taiwanese firm SYF Vietnam in Giang Dien IZ and a $9.2 million project of Japan’s Semba Tohka Vietnam in Long Duc IZ.

Dong Nai Province is home to nearly 1,900 foreign-invested projects with capital totalling $33.9 billion, mainly in the supporting industries for electronics, garment, textiles, footwear and machinery manufacturing.

The projects are financed by investors from 45 countries and territories worldwide, mostly from RoK, Taiwan and Japan.

Deputy head of the Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority Mai Van Nhon said that this year, the province will reject any project that is likely to cause environmental pollution or use out-of-date technology while prioritising clean, green investments.

Before granting investment licences, local authorities will consider the projects’ production value, labour productivity and disbursement rate, he said.

Last year alone, FDI disbursement in the province hit a record high of $1.6 billion in 2018, accounting for 86.4 per cent of total foreign attraction in the year. — VNS