Southeast Nghe An Economic Zone is a vital piece of the puzzle for Nghe An’s development for this decade and beyond

According to the zone’s management board, it has this year approved policies and issued certificates for 13 foreign-invested projects, with total registered capital of about $1.12 billion. Overall, the total newly granted foreign capital and additional adjusted capital is about $1.3 billion.

Thanks to these results, Nghe An is in the top 10 of provinces nationwide in terms of attracting overseas funding. While many localities in the central region have not attracted any foreign-invested projects since the beginning of the year, Nghe An has flourished.

Earlier this year, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha approved the overall adjustment of general planning for construction of Southeast Nghe An EZ towards 2040.

The EZ is a key, multi-industry, multi-sector zone covering almost 21,000 hectares. To attract investment and develop the area, in August Nghe An People’s Committee issued management regulations according to the overall adjustment project.

Accordingly, it identified priority investment programmes and projects for the EZ during this period. The EZ will prioritise the construction of housing development projects, meeting the needs of renovation and resettlement arrangements. There will also be the construction and renovation of shopping centres, exhibition fairs, cultural centres, and entertainment and sports parks.

Le Tien Tri, head of the Management Board of Southeast Nghe An EZ, said by identifying the outstanding potential advantages of the province when compared with other localities, the province had focused on attracting investment in industrial park (IP) infrastructure.

This combined with investment promotion has brought good results. Since 2015, the province has attracted three big names in IP infrastructure: Hoang Thinh Dat Corporation, VSIP, and WHA Industrial Development.

“Currently, Hoang Mai 1 IP, WHA, and even VSIP have attracted many secondary investors. They have quite high occupancy rates of over 90 per cent, and WHA Industrial Park is in the process of expanding to phase 2,” Tri said. “Hoang Mai 2 IP has also been approved.”

With modern investment in industrial infrastructure projects, a new wave of funding attraction has appeared and increased rapidly in Nghe An.

Since the beginning of 2019, the province has attracted more than $2 billion of foreign capital in IPs, including many large ventures in electronic equipment and technology manufacturing such as Goertek Vina, Runergy PV Technology, Everwin, JuTeng, Luxshare ICT, and Luxshare.

In June this year, Nghe An approved a project to produce monocrystalline silicon rods and semiconductor platters in Hoang Mai 1 IP. The project is funded by Runergy PV Technology Co., Ltd. from Thailand as the investor, worth around $440 million.

This is the first project in the group’s series of investment plans in Vietnam, with subsequent projects planned that could increase the group’s total funding in Vietnam to as much as $1.4 billion.

The previous month, Nghe An also approved an electronic component manufacturing project worth $100 million from Foxconn.

Last year, Nghe An gave the green light for a factory manufacturing electronic products, network equipment, and multimedia sound products at WHA IP for Goertek Group. After more than one year of implementing phase 1, the group decided to invest a further $500 million, becoming the largest foreign-led project in Nghe An.

To support the attraction of secondary investors to place money into IPs in Southeast Nghe An EZ, Nghe An keeps seeking solutions to improve the business investment environment as well as pump money into essential infrastructure. As of mid-October, the total investment disbursed for essential infrastructure construction was up to $22 million.

Currently, there are four projects constructing roads in the EZ. In addition, the Management Board of Southeast Nghe An EZ is also speeding up the progress of six other projects.

Not only focusing on developing essential infrastructure projects, accompanying and supporting investors in removing difficulties during implementation has also been a strong focus of local leaders

Teng Wei Hong, general director of VSIP Nghe An said, “In recent years, the leaders of the province and the Management Board of Southeast Nghe An EZ have focused on promoting spatial development, mobilising capital for infrastructure development, applying IT, amending and perfecting policies, and creating an open and attractive investment environment. The leaders of Nghe An have provided dedicated support in all aspects to create the best environment for us to work.”