The province is currently focusing on the core economic pillars of industry, seaports, port logistics services, tourism, and high-tech agriculture. Ventures tend to utilise modern technology that bring high added value and non-invasiveness of environmental damage.

Seaports and related logistics development sit alongside other core economic pillars for the province

Many large-scale projects are creating a strong impact on the province’s socioeconomic development, such as the $115 million investment steel furnace dust treatment and recycling plant invested by Korea Zinc; a $1.2 billion polypropylene factory and liquefied petroleum gas underground storage from Hyosung Group; the $110 million super white float glass factory; and the $5.1 billion Long Son Petrochemical Complex project from Thailand’s SCG.

Chairman of People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tho said that based on its potential and strengths, the province identified the aforementioned key economic sectors to attract investment. At the same time, Ba Ria-Vung Tau is arranging the economic space into functional zones including industrial development, seaports, agricultural development, tourism, urban development, and the continental shelf and islands.

Thanks to clearly defined goals, the province is attracting investment selectively, attracting large-scale projects with advanced technology and which are non-labour intensive, Tho commented.

Currently, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has planned and invested in 17 large industrial parks over more than 9,000 hectares. Some 15 industrial zones have been established, reaching an occupancy rate of 56 per cent. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is collecting opinions as well as reviewing and appraising policy approval documents for the expansion of My Xuan B1 at Conac Industrial Park and the HD industrial Urban and Service Industrial Park.

The province’s seaport system, meanwhile, was approved in July. The province has planned 69 port projects. Of those, 50 projects are in operation with total designed capacity of 150 million tonnes per year and eight large container port projects with a capacity of 8.3 million TEU per year. Cai Mep port cluster is one of 19 major ports in the world that can receive the largest super ships.

The province said that seaport and port logistics development will not only help to eliminate inappropriate projects, but also creates an ecosystem for high-tech businesses that have strong finance and the confidence to invest.

In addition, the province continues to develop the Cai Mep Free Trade Zone project to establish a distribution centre connecting the province with the incoming Long Thanh International Airport and focus on implementing other inter-regional transport infrastructure to improve the capacity of the Thi Vai-Cai Mep port system.

Currently, the province is actively promoting implementation of Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway phase 1, which will boast a length of 19.5km. It is hoped construction will start mid-2023.

At the same time, the province is promoting investment in major tourism projects, continuing to support businesses in the implementation of free trade agreements, restructuring the agricultural sector associated with new rural development and in line with adaptation to climate change.

The province is also setting up a planning orientation framework for this decade, with a vision to 2050, including analysis and assessment of territorial, natural, and socioeconomic conditions; the ability to mobilise and promote its resources and outline its development scenarios; and a number of solutions and the actual roadmap prepared for designing its general and specific development plan for each industry and sector.

According to the provincial People’s Committee, in the first 11 months of this year, the province attracted an additional 68 projects (17 foreign-invested and 41 domestic), and adjusted capital for 40 projects (25 foreign-invested and 15 domestic) with a total registered investment capital of about $725 million. Over 1,900 enterprises were newly registered with total registered capital of just over $852 million.

The province currently boasts 442 overseas investment projects with total capital of nearly $30 billion.