Binh Duong Industrial Parks: Driving Force for Investment Attraction

Together with the effort to build an open investment environment, Binh Duong has set stores by upgrading infrastructure systems, supporting services and human resources to meet the requirements of investors. Thanks to good preparations for technical infrastructures in industrial parks, the industrial park system has been synchronously planned and developed. Since Song Than 1 Industrial Park was built in 1994, Binh Duong has so far set up 28 industrial zones with total area of 8,925.13 ha. All have very modern utilities and complete infrastructures to meet centralised industrial production. The Binh Duong Industrial Zones Authority is assigned to manage 24 industrial zones with a total planned area of 7,146.21 ha, of which 22 industrial zones with a combined area of 6443.81 ha are in operation and two industrial parks (An Tay and Thoi Hoa) are under construction.

 

Mr Tran Van Lieu, Director of the Binh Duong Industrial Zones Authority, said industrial parks in Binh Duong province are now housing 1,142 projects, including 777 foreign-invested projects worth around US$5 billion and 365 Vietnamese-invested projects capitalised at about VND23,000 billion. Specifically, concerning domestic investment, industrial parks attracted VND3,991 billion in the year to date, down 21.97 percent from the same period in 2010 but equal 570 percent of the plan set for 2011. Regarding foreign investment, the authority closely coordinated with industrial park developers and operators to organise seven investment promotion trips to Thailand, the United States, Japan and China. In the reporting period, the province-based industrial parks drew over US$214 million, down 40 percent from the corresponding period in 2010 and equal to 54 percent of the 2011 plan.

 

Last year, industrial parks witnessed 57 projects to start operations, equal to 114 percent of the annual plan, bringing the total number of operational projects to 863, an increase of 5 percent over 2010. Projects in industrial zones made aggregate revenue of US$4.926 billion, equal to 109 percent of the annual plan and earn over US$2.146 billion from exports, equal to 85.8 percent of the yearly plan.

 

This result is attributed to the province’s large investment for the construction of transport, power supply and water supply systems. Traffic networks interconnecting districts are built or upgraded to meet support socioeconomic development. The province also attaches much importance to developing human resources. It calls investors to build training schools to supply high-quality manpower for investors.

 

Binh Duong has defined that industry is the main driving force for the industrialisation and modernisation from now till 2020. Industrial parks will play an important role in this process, create momentums for new investment attraction, generate jobs, improve professional levels of local workers and protect the environment. Developing industrial parks will help form industrial park chains attached with residential zones and speed up the process of urbanisation and modernisation. Industrial parks in the province will focus on attracting large-scaled projects using high and clean technologies and using small workforce.

 

By 2015, the proportion of industry and construction to the provincial GDP will reach 62.9 percent but it will be reduced to 55.5 percent by 2020. All industrial parks will strictly follow contents stated in approved environment impact assessment reports and have environmentally standardised wastewater treatment systems. All violators will be severely punished. Pollution will be administered from the source while wastes will be closely managed and treated, especially hazardous industrial wastes.

 

From now to 2020, Binh Duong province will expand three industrial zones by 2,087 ha to raise the total acreage to 3,631ha. Eleven new industrial parks will be set up with a combined area of 8,793 ha, bringing the total number of industrial zones in Binh Duong province to 39, which will cover 19,834.5 ha altogether.

 

The aforesaid development of industrial parks is consistent with the process of economic spillover from the southern part of the province to the northern part. Industrial parks function as a driving force for economic and social development of the northern province. These facilities will also the precondition for the formation of modern residential zones of future districts like Bac Ben Cat, Bac Tan Uyen and existing districts like Phu Giao and Dau Tieng. The development is also in line with the provincial socioeconomic development master plan approved by the Prime Minister.