Aurora IP to host $30 million Singaporean megaproject

Vietnam saw the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) soar to its highest point in a decade last year, with over $20 billion invested, mainly from Japan, Singapore, and China.

Many overseas firms are taking advantage of FTAs between their home market and Vietnam to set up sustainable garment and textile manufacturing facilities. Under the EU–Vietnam FTA, certain products exported from Vietnam to the EU will enjoy zero tariffs from this year.

Among the 57 nations and territories with new projects in Vietnam this year, Singapore has been the largest investor, with $1.79 billion in the first six months alone. Sanbang PTE., Ltd leads the way among Singaporean investors with a record $28.7 million being pumped into a new plant specialising in manufacturing towels and woven fabrics.

Sanbang chose Nam Dinh province in northern Vietnam, the cradle of Vietnam’s garment and textile industry, to build a factory with the full support of the local authorities to ensure the swift completion of all legal requirements for the project’s deployment.

Aurora industrial park (IP) in Nam Dinh, developed by local prominent real estate developer Cat Tuong Group, with the ambition of being a sustainable IP for the textiles sector, is set to be an ideal destination for Sanbang’s factory. The Singaporean firm signed a lease for a 103,400 square-metre space in Aurora IP in August.

Sanbang hopes to complete all necessary legal procedures to begin construction in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

The factory will begin pre-production in Q3 of 2025 and official production from the following Q4. Annual production capacity is expected to reach 15,000 tonnes of towels, 14 million metres of woven fabric, and 15,000 tonnes of DTY yarn.

Oriented to be a ‘green, clean, and sustainable’ industrial park with a well-balanced industrial ecological community, Aurora is one of the few IPs in Vietnam qualified to accommodate fabric-dyeing facilities. Its infrastructure is designed with one of the country’s largest wastewater treatment systems, with a capacity of 110,000 cubic metres each day.

The water system is equipped with cutting-edge technology and environmentally friendly materials to ensure that state regulations on post-treatment water are observed as well as the water needs of secondary investors are met.

“Aurora IP is committed to the goal of becoming one of the top industrial parks in the country as it welcomes one of the most prestigious investors in the garments and textiles industry in the world,” said Nguyen Van Tuan, standing vice chairman of the Board of Directors at Cat Tuong Group.

The Aurora IP Project Management Board and contractors are currently accelerating the development of projects while progressing the park's infrastructure to completion, in compliance with international requirements.

Construction and completion of component modules for the clean water treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant, and 110kV transformer station delivering power to the IP are among the infrastructure items that will be deployed actively in 2023.

Leveraging the strengths of leading industrial real estate developer Cat Tuong Group as well as the favourable investment environment conditions, Aurora IP aims to be a bright spot attracting foreign manufacturers coming to Vietnam.

Since it began operating in 2019, Aurora IP has signed a total of four land lease agreements worth more than $330 million with four high-tech foreign-invested enterprises, demonstrating its appeal and unique advantages.

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