The new investments came from five new projects and 14 expanded others, Vo Thanh Hung, head of the Management Board of Can Tho Industrial Parks, told a meeting to review this year’s investment attraction in Can Tho city on December 18

Can Tho is home to 214 valid projects, including 23 foreign-invested ones. Of the total, 192 projects are operational while 22 others are under construction. They generated stable jobs for 32,000 workers.

Despite difficulties in production and business, enterprises at industrial parks raked in US$1.4 billion in revenues, equal to that of last year. Of the figure, industrial production value reached US$1 billion and trade service, US$391 million.

Over the year, the industrial parks’ export was US$582 million, up 8% from a year ago and accounting for 43% of the city’s total goods value.

Of the city’s all eight industrial parks, Tra Noc I and Tra Noc II have the highest proportion of land hired by businesses with 100% and 91%, respectively, Hung said.

In a bid to attract more investors, Can Tho has pumped VND213 billion (US$10.1 million) in building waste water treatment plants with a total capacity of 12,000 cubic metres per day in the two industrial parks. The plants are expected to be operational in the beginning of next year.