Rushing to open a new industrial park

In the first 6 months of the year, investment promotion activities took place very actively in the Southeast provinces. A series of American, Japanese and European enterprises have come to learn about investment in localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai. Also in the first half of 2023, many projects have expanded their investment in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong.

As a result, the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 6 months of the year of some localities increased sharply over the same period, such as Ho Chi Minh City attracted US$2.8 billion, up 30.7% over the same period last year.

However, it is easy to see that the increase in FDI capital is mainly due to the contribution of capital to buy shares by foreign investors, while the number of newly licensed projects is not much due to the significant shrinking of industrial land in localities.

However, an optimistic signal is that localities are rushing to prepare to build new industrial parks to welcome big "eagles" from Europe and the US to "nest".

Most recently, on July 7, Long Thanh Hi-tech Park (Dong Nai province) officially started construction. This is the province’s first high-tech park, with an area of ​​410 hectares, 10 km from Long Thanh airport and next to the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay highway.

After Long Thanh Hi-Tech Park was started, Dong Nai province is urgently petitioning the Government to consider and approve the investment in three new industrial zones, including Long Duc 3, Bau Can - Tan Hiep (Long Thanh district) and Xuan Que - Song Nhan (Cam My district), with a total area of ​​nearly 6,500 hectares to catch the investment wave when Long Thanh international airport comes into operation.

In the industrial "capital" of Binh Duong, in early July 2023, the Provincial People’s Council approved the planning project of Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park III (VSIP III - phase II), with an area of ​​more than 800 hectares and Cay Truong Industrial Park of 700 hectares.

After the planning is approved, Binh Duong will begin construction of technical infrastructure items to soon welcome investors. In the direction of attracting investment, VSIP III and Cay Truong Industrial Parks will give priority to high-tech industries, associated with the service center. In addition to newly built IPs, it is expected that by the end of this year, SEP Cooperative Group (Korea) will start construction of Tam Lap 2 Industrial Cluster Project (Binh Duong), with an area of ​​180 hectares, following the model of "Net Zero" industrial cluster. This industrial cluster will attract Korean investors.

At the economic locomotive of Ho Chi Minh City, right after the Government agreed to add Pham Van Hai I Industrial Park (379 ha) and Pham Van Hai II Industrial Park (289 ha) to the planning, the city began to prepare to carry out the procedures to select investors to proceed with the construction.

Following the general orientation of Ho Chi Minh City’s investment attraction, Pham Van Hai I and II Industrial Parks will target investment projects in high-tech industries such as industrial robots, precision mechanics, electronics - information technology, telecommunications...

The "thirst" for industrial land is about to be quenched

Recently, many FDI enterprises have come to learn about the investment environment in the Southeast provinces, but could not find a large enough land fund to build factories for production. That’s why, when Long Thanh Hi-Tech Park just started construction, a series of businesses came to "book".

Ms. Somhatai Panichewa, CEO of Amata Vietnam (construction unit), said that Long Thanh Hi-tech Park will be built according to international standards, consulting from the Group’s current industrial park models in Thailand and developed countries. Although the project has just started, there have been more than 40 foreign investors interested and wishing to rent over 300 hectares of industrial land. It is expected that, after completing the infrastructure phase I, the leasable area can be quickly filled.

Similarly, in Binh Duong, VSIP III Industrial Park, although in the finishing stage, has attracted a series of "big" FDI to invest. In which, the project of a children’s toy factory of LEGO Group (Denmark), with a total investment of more than 1.3 billion USD, started construction in November 2022 and is expected to be completed in the middle of next year; Or the project to build a jewelry manufacturing facility of Pandora Group (Denmark), with an investment of more than 100 million USD.

Talking about the trend of investment in new industrial zones, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuan, General Director of Becamex IDC, said that the carbon tax policy and the cross-border carbon adjustment mechanism are having a great influence on attracting FDI investment of many countries, including Vietnam.

Investors themselves, especially FDI enterprises, must meet stricter requirements for clean products (from raw materials to production and supply stages) and have clear origins in order to be accepted into the global value chain and increase competitiveness.

Therefore, Becamex will gradually transform existing IPs to increase sustainability through improving the management and operation model of the IP to best support investors in the IP.

"Upgrading existing industrial parks to become smarter, with the ability to provide 4.0 technology platforms, such as artificial intelligence, big data..., helping businesses easily convert to a smart factory model, smart production, to increase labor productivity," emphasized Mr. Thuan.

Thus, with the rush to invest in new industrial zones in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Ho Chi Minh City, in the near future, the "thirst" for lack of industrial land will be relieved, investors will have more options.