Thousands of hectares of industrial zones approved in first quarter

The new industrial zones will be able to accommodate the rising investment demand across the country

The northern province of Bac Ninh has the most new industrial zone (IZ) projects this year, with a total of five new projects. Of these, Gia Binh II and Que Vo III's subdivision 2 have received in-priciple approval in March. Que Vo III IZ will have an area of 208.54 hectares with a total investment of VND2.78 trillion ($120.87 million). Gia Binh II IZ will have an area of 250ha and is developed by Hanaka Group with the total investment of VND3.96 trillion ($172.17 million).

In fact, Bac Ninh has been home to numerous giants like Samsung, Canon, Nokia, and Pepsico for a long time while Amazon and Home Depot are just now setting eyes on the location and tech giant Google has already chosen the province to invest and produce its Google Pixel phones. Additionally, local corporations like Vinamilk, Vinasoy, and Kinh Do have also set up bases here.

Besides Bac Ninh, some new IZs in Quang Tri are also quite large. Trieu Phu IZ is the biggest one to be approved in March with a total area of nearly 529ha (in Trieu Phong district) and the total investment of VND4.534 trillion ($197.13 million).

Meanwhile, Quang Tri IZ (Hai Lang district) will have an area of 481.2ha and the total investment of VND2.074 trillion ($90.17 million). It is developed by a joint venture of three investors, including Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP), Amata City Bien Hoa JSC, and Sumitomo Corporation.
Another new IZ in Quang Tri province – Tay Bac Ho Xa IZ (Vinh Linh district) – will stretch across an area of 214.77ha with a total investment of VND925 billion ($40.2 million).

Vinh Phuc also has several large-scale new IZs with a total investment value of more than VND1.5 trillion ($65.2 million) for nearly 500ha of space, including Song Lo, Tam Duong I, and Thai Hoa-Lien Son-Lien Hoa.

In addition to these three provinces, Hai Duong, Vinh Long, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Nam Dinh, and Nghe An all have large-scale IZs that were approved by the prime minister in March.

As of the end of February 2021, there were 370 IZs across the country, covering an area of 115,200ha, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. 328 of these are operating outside economic zones (EZs), 24 are in coastal EZs, and eight are in border EZs. They create around 3.65 million direct jobs in total.