Foreign investors eye industrial parks in northern Vietnam

A foreign consortium of companies has submitted proposals to develop urban-industrial parks in the northern Bac Ninh province, viewed as a focal area for high-tech projects in Vietnam.
The interested group includes Taiwan’s Foxconn, South Korea’s IGS, Japan-based Orix and Singapore’s Sembcorp, the local government said, adding that their proposals would be submitted to the Prime Minister for final say.
Of those Taiwan’s Foxconn, who is preparing to start work on its first factory to manufacture electronics products in the province, has proposed an urban-industrial park on a 1,000 ha site in the Bac Ninh Hi-Tech Park in Que Vo district.
The park is designed to comprise 766 ha of industrial area and 234 ha of urban development.
The world’s leading maker of outsourced electronics products is also working on formalities to establish its subsidiary, Foxconn Vietnam.
It has been allotted 11,000 sq.m in the Que Vo Industrial Park to build its first facility on which construction will start soon.
Foxconn, which manufactures Nokia cell phones, iPod music players, PlayStation 2 game consoles, and Sony laptops, will invest US$5 billion in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, including some $1 billion this year alone.
Under a plan it discussed with the leaders of the two provinces, Foxconn is likely to build a 1,000 ha complex in Bac Ninh including a hi-tech park, township, golf course, hospital, and entertainment park and a similar 1,500 ha complex in Bac Giang.
Foxconn, the trade name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., exports some $45 billion worth items each year, with 80 percent made in its facilities in China.
South Korea’s IGS has planned to develop urban-industrial complex at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion.
As designed, IGS will build factories and showrooms on 400 ha and an urban town on 200 ha, which is home to shopping center, school, clinic and recreation facilities, in the Nam Son- Hap Linh Industrial complex.
The investor has pledged to call for other investors from Korea to join the project.
Sembcorp Industries of Singapore has proposed an industrial park named Vietnam
Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Bac Ninh signed for Singapore investors.
VSIP IP, to be developed on 700 ha in the Tien Du and Tu Son districts, will include 500 ha for industrial facilities and 200 ha for commercial-residential-service area.
SembCorp Industries, the leading power and integrated utilities group in Singapore, has invested in two mega projects in Vietnam – the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park and Phu My 3 Power Plant.
Japan-based Orix is set to build a 1,200 ha-IP in Yen Phong district.
Orix is an integrated financial services group based in Tokyo, providing innovative value-added products and services to both corporate and retail customers.
The province has lured around 70 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $620 million in the first quarter.
It now has four IPs, which are home to 222 projects worth $560 million in pledged capital, with the province bent on developing 10 more in the near future.
Source: VietnamNet, Thanh Nien – Compiled by Dong Ha