Long Hau Industrial Park in Long An Province. Long An and other southern provinces plan to expand or build new industrial parks to welcome a new wave of foreign investment. — Photo courtesy of the industrial park

Provinces in the southern region plan to expand industrial parks (IPs) and continue improving the business climate to lure foreign investment following the containment of the third COVID-19 outbreak.

Tran Tue Hien, chairwoman of Binh Phuoc Province People’s Committee, said it has sought approval from the Government to expand three IPs with an additional area of 2,500ha.

It aims to attract 6,000 new businesses, especially in processing, agriculture and supporting industry, over the next five years, she said.

Binh Phuoc has 13 IPs with an area of nearly 4,700ha, and eight industrial clusters with an area of 380ha.

Despite the pandemic, Binh Phuoc last year attracted 120 domestic projects with registered capital of VND12 trillion (US$522 million), up 17 per cent year-on-year, and 36 foreign-invested projects worth $432 million, or 96 per cent of the figure in 2019.

To date, the province has more than 270 foreign-invested projects with registered capital of $2.7 billion.

Nguyen Minh Chien, head of the Binh Phuoc Province Economic Zone Authority, said that Binh Phuoc would improve its investment climate and administrative procedures, and offer incentive policies for investors in high-tech agriculture, commerce and logistics.

Long An Province has received approval to add three new IPs to the national plan, including the Saigon – Mekong IP covering 200ha, Tan Tap IP 654ha, and Loc Giang IP 466ha.

Long An will also expand the second phase of Long Hau IP (90ha) and the third phase of Xuyen A IP (177ha).

Recently, the Phuoc Dong Industrial Park and Port opened in the province. It is located 39km from HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, 19km from Long An International Port, and 42km from Cat Lai Port.

It spans an area of 128.8ha, of which 92.39ha are industrial land with ready-built factories and warehouses.

The port system will be developed to welcome cargo ships with a capacity of 20,000DWT in the future.

In addition, the Government has recently allowed Dong Nai Province to convert 6,500ha of farm land to new IPs and expansion of existing IPs to address a shortage of space.

Six localities in the province such as Long Thanh, Cam My, Thong Nhat, and Trang Bom, and Nhon Trach districts and Long Khanh City plan to build more IPs, each between 200ha and 900ha.

Dong Nai will also expand existing IPs as they are all nearly full. Thirty-five of them have received approval from the Government, though only 31 are in operation and one more is under construction, with a total area of over 10,000ha.

To date, 1,700 companies have invested in Dong Nai, including more than 1,200 foreign firms from 43 countries and territories. The province wants to develop logistics, construction, healthcare and housing.

Nguyen Van Toan, vice president of the Viet Nam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, said a good legal framework and reasonable incentives for investors were needed to lure the investment. — VNS