Tien Giang builds upon its strengths

Tien Giang’s road and waterway networks make it a central cog for the transport of goods in the south of Vietnam

A thriving agricultural area 70 kilometres north of the southern growth engine Ho Chi Minh City, Tien Giang has great potential for attracting investment in agricultural processing and business connections in the southeastern and southwestern areas.

The province boasts nearly 90,000 hectares of land for growing high-quality rice, more than 70,000ha of land with specialty fruit trees, nearly 13,000ha earmarked for aquaculture development, and over 30,000ha for growing crops. Tien Giang has been renowned nationwide for its tasty specialty fruit brands, such as Hoa Loc mangos, Cho Gao dragon fruit, Ngu Hiep durian, Lo Ren Vinh Kim star apples, and Tan Phu Dong soursops.

This is a major agricultural and seafood production area in the Mekong Delta. Aside from a rich labour force and convenient road and waterway transport network, Tien Giang is the meeting point between the southern key economic zone and the southwestern area. Each year, businesses in the province contribute about two million tonnes of rice, equal to one third of Vietnam’s total rice export volume.

To unlock the advantages of each region, in light of the province’s development orientation, Tien Giang has divided the province into three major economic zones that are catalysing provincial development. Accordingly, the central urban-economic zone consists of My Tho city, Cho Gao, and Chau Thanh districts, with My Tho city acting as the urban centre.

The eastern urban-economic zone consists of Go Cong town and the districts of Go Cong Dong, Go Cong Tay, and Tan Phu Dong, with Go Cong town functioning as the urban centre. Meanwhile, the western urban-economic zone encompasses Cai Lay town and the districts of Cai Lay, Cai Be, and Tan Phuoc, with Cai Lay town as the urban centre.

Priority development areas are agricultural processing; hi-tech agriculture, wholesale agricultural trade and services, eco-tourism at provincial orchards, the Plain of the Reeds and the Thoi Son island.

To provide cleared space for investors, Tien Giang has paid due heed to ensure swift development of industrial parks (IPs) and clusters (ICs), while boosting efficiency of existing IPs and ICs. By 2020, the province is expected to accommodate eight IPs and about 30 ICs covering 8,700ha in the total area, concentrating in Tan Phuoc and Go Cong areas, currently low-effective agricultural land.

In the field of trade services, Tien Giang has paid priority to enlarging the home market and boosting trade with Ho Chi Minh City, other provinces in the southern key economic zone and the Mekong Delta.

Efforts were also geared toward restructuring the retail network, with priority given to establishing a modern retail system, particularly in urban areas, with favourable conditions to promote sales. It is also necessary to develop trade and service centres in My Tho city, Go Cong, Cai Lay, and Cai Be towns, and form residential, trade, healthcare, education, banking, and tourism complexes in areas like Bac Go Cong, Dong Nam Tan Phuoc, and Trung Luong (My Tho city).

The system of existing agricultural and wholesale seafood markets must be further strengthened and developed, creating links between the southern key economic zone and the Mekong Delta.

To achieve these goals and ramp up the province’s appeal in the eyes of investors, the province has paid a great deal of attention to increasing the efficiency of administrative reforms, focusing on improving infrastructure, and training skilled workers to satisfy investors’ labour demand.

The Tien Giang People’s Committee has enacted Plan No.122/KH-UBND to implement governmental Resolution No.19/NQ-CP, dated March 12, 2015, detailing major tasks and solutions to further improve the business climate and national competitiveness during 2015-2016.

In the short-term, particularly this year, the province has tried to be listed among localities with a fair provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking. The provincial authorities have just introduced an investment wish-list consisting of 43 projects prioritised to attract investment, which offers maximum support for investors.

With abounding advantages in geography, infrastructure, and a constantly improving investment climate, Tien Giang has led the Mekong Delta region in attracting investment in the past years. During 2006-2010, the province lured 133 new projects valued at VND29.3 trillion ($1.4 billion) in the total registered investment capital. Of these, 48 projects were registered inside IPs valued at VND17.6 trillion ($838 million) and 85 projects outside IPs worth VND11.8 trillion ($563 million).

During the period, Tien Giang attracted 48 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects valued at more than $1 billion in the total committed investment capital. By the end of September 2015, the province was home to 90 on-going FDI projects, with the total committed investment capital surpassing $1.6 billion, placing Kien Giang in the 29th position nationwide, and third in the Mekong Delta (behind Long An and Kien Giang) in FDI attraction.