Enormous room for Can Tho IZ growth

Industrial zones in Can Tho city have become a big magnet to foreign investors

This year, Simon Wong, director of the Australian fund SPG Invest, made three trips to Can Tho to work with top provincial leaders and relevant management agencies in the quest for investment opportunities in the city. Wong had also made field surveys in some locations marked as sites of projects currently appearing on Can Tho city’s investment wish-list.

According to Wong, many of their company’s partners are considering moving production plants out of China to Vietnam. SPG Invest therefore is quickly searching for a suitable location for industrial real estate development paired with ready-to-serve factory space to satisfy the thirst.

Through the surveys, Wong praised Can Tho’s plentiful potential and expressed keen interest towards a raft of related ventures in the area.

Previously, city leaders had worked with several big firms operating in industrial zone (IZ) construction from Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City who came to search for prospects in Can Tho.

It was thanks to IZs’ catered space in Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring locations becoming increasingly scarce with elevating compensation costs. In Can Tho, the room for such kind of investment is proving rosy, with a string of logistics centre and IZ development plan awaiting financiers.

The attributes drawing particular attention also include its strategic position in the heart of the delta region and serving as a gateway to the Mekong River’s lower section, along with a modern-oriented economic and social infrastructure system.

The Politburo last month enacted Resolution No.59-NQ/TW on the building and development of Can Tho city to 2030, with a vision towards 2045. Along with this, by 2030 the city aims to become a modern and civilised eco city imbued deeply with the delta region’s cultural identities while becoming a regional centre for trade services, tourism, logistics, processing, high-tech agriculture, education and training, healthcare, sci-tech, culture, and sports.

To reach the target, focusing investment into building major social and economic infrastructure network will prove essential, particularly regarding modern and seamless intra-region and inter-regional transport infrastructure, thus enabling Can Tho to play the role as a central point driving inter-regional and international transport links.

In recent months a raft of transport projects of national significance serving the development of delta region and Can Tho in particular were intensified. For example, Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway is set to be open to traffic by the end of this year, while the building of My Thuan 2 Bridge and My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway (slated to kick off construction in December) are closely adhering to progress targets to be able to ensure smooth transportation for the whole route by 2023.

Significantly, the Ministry of Transport is submitting a revised highway network development plan with vision towards 2030 in which it proposed adjusting the investment plan of building the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang highway system to the period before 2030 to meet actual development requirements.

The provincial management has also paid due regards to revising industrial park development planning to facilitate investors’ business.

Can Tho currently boasts nine IZs, six of them which are operational. These include Tra Noc 1 and Tra Noc 2, Hung Phu 1, Hung Phu 2A, Hung Phu 2B, and first-phase Thot Not. The remainder are O Mon, Bac O Mon, and the second-phase Thot Not IZs.

To help Can Tho maximise its potential, Can Tho Export Processing and Industrial Zones Management Authority (CEPIZA) has focused on pushing up investment attraction and administrative procedure reform, as well as regularly meeting IZ-based businesses to help solve any problems in a timely manner.

CEPIZA has also urged IZ developers to quicken land acquisition pace to create clear space for investors seeking business opportunities in the city.

Based on actual demands, Can Tho People’s Committee recently submitted to the prime minister revision of the city’s IZ development planning to 2025, with vision towards 2030, in which Can Tho proposed switching several IZs to more favourable locations (without changing IZ area) to charm investors. For instance, the second-phase Thot Not IZ could move deeper towards Vinh Thanh district in order to draw down investment costs.