Languishing near the bottom of the list of localities a decade ago in overseas funding attraction, now Thai Nguyen in Vietnam’s northeast has carved a spot among the top destinations nationwide in foreign direct investment (FDI).

Thai Nguyen is blessed with well-planned industrial zones with plenty of space for added production

In the first seven months of 2022, the total FDI volume in the province touched $1.02 billion, ranking fourth in the country. As of July 20, the province was home to 198 foreign-invested projects valued at more than $10 billion in value, placing 11th out of all 63 localities.

Over the years, Thai Nguyen has coaxed many major domestic and foreign businesses such as Samsung, Sunny Opotech, and TNG, among others. Earlier this year Samsung decided to inject $920 million more into its existing manufacturing complex in Thai Nguyen, raising the plant’s total investment sum from $1.35 billion to $2.27 billion.

Major newly-licensed foreign-funded projects in Thai Nguyen in the year to date include a $275 million venture by China’s Trina Solar Wafer at Yen Binh Industrial Zone (IZ) on high-power module production; a $30 million South Korean-backed Dowooinsys Vina project at Song Cong II IZ; and the $9.5 million Sunny Infrased Vietnam scheme at Yen Binh IZ, among others.

Thai Nguyen’s success in luring FDI is attributed to the province’s smart job of building big IZs to welcome funding flow, as well as its policies and incentives to encourage firms to invest in the province’s IZs. Along with this, this year Thai Nguyen has accommodated 12 well-planned IZs with a total land area for industrial production reaching 4,245ha, ready to greet investors.

Thus far, Thai Nguyen IZs have enticed over 270 projects, of which 134 are run by foreign investors with a total capital value surpassing $10.4 billion, and 137 are owned by domestic groups valued at more than $764.6 million.

According to Thai Nguyen People’s Committee, most of the province’s IZs are positioned south in the province and contiguous to key roads like the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen expressway, as well as being relatively close to Noi Bai International Airport and Haiphong port. Furthermore, the IZs have a modern and seamless infrastructure – in particular, a centralised wastewater treatment system.

Nguyen Linh, director of Thai Nguyen Department of Planning and Investment, noted that amid complexities in the past two years, Thai Nguyen has succeeded in wooing nearly 50 foreign-invested projects, particularly early this year.

“The total FDI value in Thai Nguyen now amounts to tens of billions of US dollars, which is truly a driving force to propel the province’s development,” Linh said.

Between January and the end of May, the rate of public capital disbursement in Thai Nguyen was at an average level compared to other localities. By the end of July, the province, however, witnessed a breakthrough in this regard when it reached 59.3 per cent of the set plan, making it among the top players nationwide in public investment disbursement.

The total public investment volume assigned to Thai Nguyen approximated $254 million in 2022. By the end of July, the total disbursed sum amounted to $150.7 million. The figure is expected to reach $170 million by the end of August, equal to 67 per cent of the total volume.

Taken that entanglements in land acquisition are the bottleneck for source disbursement, Thai Nguyen People’s Committee has required authorised agencies to facilitate this work to be able to quickly hand over cleared space to contractors for project execution.

Efforts are also geared towards accelerating construction pace and finalising relevant procedures to receive payment from Thai Nguyen State Treasury for complete work volume, from there quickening public investment disbursement pace.

Nguyen Thi Bao Huong, director of Thai Nguyen State Treasury, noted that the unit has strictly obeyed administrative procedure reforms to shorten the time for transactions, quickly bringing the capital sources into serving the society efficiently.

Last year, Thai Nguyen made it among the top three performers in public investment disbursement nationwide.