Quang Ninh entices foreign investment influx in 2022

For the first time, the northeastern coastal province of Quang Ninh has surpassed the $2 billion mark in foreign investment attraction by virtue of hailing sizable projects.

According to Quang Ninh Department of Planning and Investment, if direct and indirect projects are included, this is the first year total foreign-invested capital into the province has touched the $2 billion milestone. The lion’s share came from the Quang Ninh gas power plant project, which was granted an investment certificate in July with a total capital volume reaching $1.998 billion. Thanks to the project, the total foreign direct investment (FDI) volume into Quang Ninh has surpassed $2.18 billion thus far.

Hoang Trung Kien, director of Quang Ninh Economic Zones Management Authority (QEZA), noted the province’s industrial zones (IZs) and economic zones under its management has allured nearly $180.6 million in total FDI volume in the year to date. The QEZA has proposed Quang Ninh People’s Committee to approve capital addition for one project with total supplemental capital amount reaching $257 million, and guiding three other foreign-invested projects to complete investment certificate registration records with a total registered capital volume reaching $186.2 million.

According to Csaba Bundik, vice chairman of the Central and Eastern European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, Quang Ninh is known by many European investors thanks to logistics and geographical benefits.

“These achievements did not come naturally, but is the result of long-term strategy, vision, and the practical experiences in IP development, logistics advantages, and the numerous benefits the province brings to investors,” said Bundik.

In respect to the prospect of foreign investment attraction, Kien from the QEZA revealed that in July, Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical JSC committed to invest $1.5 billion into Bac Tien Phong IZ to materialise a project on polypropylene resin production.

The investor has signed a land lease agreement with the IZ infrastructure developer as well as technology copyright transfer contracts with two partners from United States and Italy, namely UOP and Basell Polyolefin.

This paves a stepping stone for the development of Stavian Quang Yen Petrochemical project, which Stavian Petrochemical had announced earlier.

Many large economic groups across the board are also actively exploring investment opportunities in Quang Ninh. After a string of investment promotion events held during the year, the province has garnered warm feedback from investors such as Sojitz Group, KDDI Vietnam, Mitsubishi Corporation, ACER, and BP Group, among others.

Leveraging actual needs, in 2023 the province aims to welcome at least $1 billion in FDI volume.

According to Nguyen Van Nhan, general director of Amata Halong Urban, the investor of Song Khoai IZ, in recent months Amata Group has worked with many foreign investors, especially those coming from Japan.

“Currently, investors are interested in Song Khoai IZ, so we are rushing to complete second-phase IP infrastructure construction to be able to reach handover to customers in 2023,” said Nhan.

Bruno Jaspaert, general director of DEEP C Industrial Zones, the developer of two IZs in Quang Ninh, however noted that high-quality human resources prove a real challenge to the locality.

“Each province needs to have priorities in training, focusing on industries such as electronics, machinery, or equipment manufacturing. It takes time to become well-prepared in human resources, and if this can be done, it could alter the current labour resource landscape,” Jaspaert said.

According to Nguyen Manh Cuong, director of Quang Ninh Department of Planning and Investment, the province must continue to innovate investment promotion and attraction methods, and approaching investors in a proactive and flexible manner.

“Especially, it is necessary to improve the operational efficiency of the taskforces formed to help firms remove difficulties and push up the implementation of key projects,” Cuong said. “Special attention must be paid to the development of specific and clear mechanisms, policies and solutions on investment attraction.”

At present, Quang Ninh is home to 153 foreign-invested projects whose total registered capital volume exceeds $10.3 billion, with investors coming from 19 countries and territories.

The disbursed investment volume is estimated at $6.42 billion out of the $10.3 billion, equal to about 62 per cent of the total.