Hanoi continued to top the list of foreign direct investment destinations in Vietnam in the first 10 months of this year, raking in about 6.85 billion USD, most of which came in form of capital contributions and share purchase.

The 42-billion-USD smart city project is being developed along both
sides of the Nhat Tan - Noi Bai Road. (Photo: thanglong.chinhphu.vn) 

The figure left Ho Chi Minh City, who ranked second with 4.96 billion USD, far behind.

Of the FDI flow into Hanoi, 945 million USD was poured into new projects, while 578 million USD was added to existing ones and about 5.33 billion USD was injected by foreign investors via capital contributions and share purchase.

Noteworthy projects in the period included the smart city project in Dong Anh district which costs more than 4.2 billion USD, invested by a joint venture between BRG Group and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan. Hong Kong’s BeerCo Limited spent 3.85 billion USD on acquiring a stake in Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd, a local unit of Thai Beverage Public Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, Japan’s Meiko Electronics added  200 million USD to its facility.

According to the municipal Department of Investment and Planning, the FDI capital flowed the most into property development, processing and manufacturing industry, trade and services, and telecommunications and information.

In October, the capital city licenced 91 new FDI projects, worth 468 million USD, including 72 wholly foreign invested and 19 associate and joint venture ones.

The month also saw ground broken at the smart city project in Dong Anh district, the biggest FDI project in Vietnam so far.

The 272-hectare project stretches across over 11km along both sides of the Nhat Tan – Noi Bai Road.

It will be built in five phases, which are all scheduled to be operational by 2028, and will apply digital technologies including smart energy management, transportation systems, security management, classroom systems, economics and smart life.

The highlight will be the 108-storey financial tower, with the investors saying it will become a financial hub for not only Vietnam, but also Southeast Asia.

The Department of Investment and Planning said the FDI injection has been on a rise in Hanoi and was forecast to exceed 8 billion USD this year.

The department’s director Nguyen Manh Quyen noted Hanoi prioritised high-quality projects that produce value-added products and are competitive in pursuit of sustainable development. Prioritised sectors include IT services, biotechnology, education, tourism, healthcare and logistics, he said.

Last year, Hanoi attracted 7.5 billion USD worth of FDI, the highest among the country’s 63 provinces and cities, and more than twice as much as the 2017 figure.

Eighty percent of the city’s projects were wholly owned by foreign investors. The remaining were associate and joint venture businesses.

Japan was Hanoi’s largest investor with total capital of 10.2 billion USD. The followers included Singapore (6 billion USD) and the Republic of Korea (5.5 billion USD).