The majority of these fresh and expansion projects are involved in manufacturing. Notably, the most capital-intensive project licensed on Wednesday is invested by Southern Rubber Industry Co., or Casumina, to produce radial tires for trucks.

This project, worth nearly VND3.38 trillion, or US$160 million, is aimed for building a factory covering some seven hectares in Tan Uyen District with an annual output of one million tires, said Casumina’s chairman Nguyen Ngoc Tuan.

The first phase of the project, which is to commence on Thursday, is set for completion in the first quarter next year with total capacity of 350,000 products annually for local use and export. Tuan noted the scheme if successful would generate about VND4.7 trillion in revenue as well as create new jobs for around 1,200 laborers.

Sun Steel JSC (Sunsco), a 100% foreign-invested company that has been operational for years in the province, obtained the license to raise its registered capital by US$120 million to US$420 million to scale up production.

Wada Yuji, general director of Sunsco, confided his firm would invest the additional fund in zinc-coated and color-coated steel sheet production lines designed with respective yearly outputs of 282,000 tons and 96,000 tons.

According to Yuji, expectations of local positive investment environment have encouraged his enterprise to expand production despite the global and local economic constraints.

Liwayway Saigon Food Industry JSC based in Vietnam-Singapore Industry Park (VSIP) also got nod to spur its capital by US$14.5 million to total investment fund of US$32.5 million. Similarly, United International Pharma Co., Ltd has scaled up its capital to US$26 million in total.

Other smaller projects that received formal approvals on Wednesday are Biomin Vietnam Co., which will build its US$8-million plant to produce animal feed and drug in VSIP II, and South Korea’s Pan Asia Co. to produce construction partition walls in a project worth US$1.5 million.