Long Hậu 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

HCM CITY — 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.

Trần Tuệ Hiền, chairwoman of Bình Phước 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.

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

Despite the pandemic, Bình Phước last year attracted 120 domestic projects with registered capital of VNĐ12 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. 

Nguyễn Minh Chiến, head of the Bình Phước Province Economic Zone Authority, said that Bình Phước 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, Tân Tập IP 654ha, and Lộc Giang IP 466ha. 

Long An will also expand the second phase of Long Hậu IP (90ha) and the third phase of Xuyên Á IP (177ha).

Recently, the Phước Đông Industrial Park and Port opened in the province. It is located 39km from HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, 19km from Long An International Port, and 42km from Cát Lái 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 Đồng 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 Thành, Cẩm Mỹ, Thống Nhất, and Trảng Bom, and Nhơn Trạch districts and Long Khánh City plan to build more IPs, each between 200ha and 900ha.

Đồng 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 Đồng Nai, including more than 1,200 foreign firms from 43 countries and territories. The province wants to develop logistics, construction, healthcare and housing. 

Nguyễn Văn Toàn, vice president of the Việt Nam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, said a good legal framework and reasonable incentives for investors were needed to lure the investment. — VNS