Phu Tho Province - Great Opportunities for Investors

Phu Tho Province - Great Opportunities for Investors

VIB Forum's reporter Hien Ha interviewed Mr Ngo Duc Vuong, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Tho province, about the province socio-economic situation and investment attraction in the past years and its development orientations in the years to come.

Can you give a brief outline of Phu Tho’s socio-economic development and the result of investment attraction in the early years of the 21^st century?

The 2001-2005 period saw Phu Tho’s gross domestic product (GDP) increase by 9.71 per cent per year. The province’s economic restructuring has gained significant results with the contribution of the industrial and construction sectors increasing from 36.5 per cent in 2000 to 40 per cent. The contribution of the State-owned sector dropped from 41.9 per cent to 36.6 per cent while the figure rose from 49.3 to 51.6 per cent for the private sector, and from 8.7 per cent to 11.8 per cent for the foreign-invested sector.

In agriculture and forestry, cultivation has developed a commodity-based production in combination with the markets. So far, some concentrated material supply areas have been formed with processing establishments for tea, paper and wood. Also, many major projects on animal husbandry and aquaculture have been implemented. In particular, the province has carried out two projects on growing Doan Hung grapefruit and Hac Tri persimmon and two projects on producing animal feed and high quality food for the domestic market and export. 

The industrial and construction sectors have developed rapidly in the last five years, attracting around 100 projects to restore and develop some traditional products for export, including handicraft and fine art items for export. Also, having tapped the province’s geographic advantages, Phu Tho’s tourism has attracted more and more visitors with an annual growth rate of 11 per cent.

Since 2001, the province’s attraction of foreign investment has seen some good results. By March 2005, the province had attracted 48 FDI projects with a registered capital of around US$400 million, 47 ODA projects, 27 programmes and projects developed by NGOs and 21 domestic projects, valued at thousands of billions of Vietnam dong.

What would you like to introduce to investors about Phu Tho province?

After the completion of the construction of a highway linking Yunnan and Kunming (China) with Noi Bai international airport, Haiphong and Cai Lan seaports, Phu Tho will become an integral part of the world largest free trade area. To build up the province into a major economic and financial centre in the region, Phu Tho has developed some concentrated industrial parks (IPs), developing complete infrastructure facilities and services for investors. At present, Phu Tho has the IPs of Thuy Van, Bach Hac and Tam Nong with a total area of 500 hectares, which have well-developed infrastructure.

Also, the province has a great potential with abundant land, water and mineral resources. This is a favourable condition for the province’s socio-economic development. In particular, Phu Tho is home to the historical relic site of Hung King Temple, the first State in Vietnam’s long history of national construction and defence. This is also a potential area for the province to develop tourism and services in the future.

What has Phu Tho province identified as its major tasks in the 2006-2010 period? What do you want to say to investors?

In the coming years, Phu Tho province will prioritise the development of tourism and services. With tourism development in the Hung King Temple site, the province will build Viet Tri into a city of festivals. This will be the major task for the whole 2006-2010 period. Also, the province will continue to concentrate its investment in small-sized industrial complexes in urban areas, especially in Viet Tri city, Phu Ninh and Phu Tho town, encouraging investors and enterprises to develop infrastructure facilities according to the Dong Lang-TASCO industrial complex.

Phu Tho will encourage investors to develop BOT (build-operate-transfer), BT (build-transfer), 100 per cent foreign-owned, joint venture and business co-operation contract projects in high-tech, electronic manufacturing and assembly, software industry, engineering and construction. Accordingly, the province will attract investment to build around five luxury hotels in the form of business co-operation contracts to meet the demand of over 1,000 visitors. Also, the province will promote its investment in entertainment areas, new urban areas, and tourist sites, such as the Ao Chau Lagoon, the Thanh Thuy thermal spring, and Xuan Son national park to create a system of tourist sites in the province. The province will concentrate on attracting investment capital to develop industries of great potential, such as construction material production and farm-produce processing. In the short term, the province will concentrate on developing projects producing cement, beer, tea, paper, and minerals. Accordingly, the province will strive to process 30,000 tonnes of tea, between 90 and 100 million litres of beer, 270,000 tonnes of paper and around three million tonnes of cement in 2010.

Phu Tho has become an attractive destination for enterprises. With its motto of creating the most favourable conditions for investors, Phu Tho province hopes to receive further co-operation from Vietnamese and foreign investors.