VSIP vows to step up industrial park development plans despite PM’s move

A senior officer at VSIP, short for Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks and Township Development Joint Stock Company, last week said the developer would this year continue developing its industrial parks and township project in the Dung Quat Economic Zone.

“The prime minister’s direction doesn’t affect our investment plan in Quang Ngai because this project is located in Dung Quat Economic Zone and has been already planned previously,” he said.

On March 2, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a direction asking local authorities and ministerial bodies to temporarily stop establishing new industrial parks and economic zones, while the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) reviewed the current sites’ effectiveness.

The direction came after National Assembly deputies late last year raised questions about the need for more industrial parks, citing low ratios of land reservation at many existing facilities.
The MPI will review the sites before a decision on when to allow resumption of the establishment of new industrial parks and economic zones is made.

“We support the direction of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to review the effectiveness of industrial parks, but I think the government should give priority to establishing new industrial parks in locations which are attractive to foreign manufacturers,” said the VSIP source.

In September 2011, VSIP signed a memorandum of understanding with the province to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study for a 1,020 hectare integrated township and industrial park in Dung Quat, its fifth industrial park and township integrated project in Vietnam. It  follows two projects in southern Binh Duong province, one in northern Bac Ninh province and one in Haiphong city.

The proposed development comprises a 500ha industrial park located within this zone where government-supported special economic zone incentives are made available to manufacturers. Also under consideration is 520ha zoned for commercial and residential purposes near downtown Quang Ngai city.

VSIP was expected to begin the construction of this project in the third quarter of this year and would offer land for food, consumer goods and manufacturing manufacturers, the officer said.
He added several manufacturers had expressed interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in this industrial park.

Le Van Dung, deputy director of Dung Quat Economic Zone Management Authority, said the authority expected there would be a plenty of manufacturing projects flocking into the zone, following VSIP’s investments.

The VISIP’s four existing integrated townships and industrial parks total 4,845ha and have attracted 440 customers with a total of $4 billion in investment. More than 100,000 jobs have been created by operational tenants.