Da Nang pulls foreign cash

DA NANG — The central city of Da Nang has granted 14 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total investment of US$71.5 million in the first five months of the year, the deputy head of the People's Committee secretariat, Nguyen Van Khoa told a press conference this week.

The city also has seen six projects increasing investment capital worth $36.6 million so far this year.

"The city's industrial production value grew to nearly VND5.6 trillion ($266 million) during five months, a 6.2-per cent increase in comparison with the same period last year," he added. He also said the industrial production of FDI projects recovered in the second quarter with a growth of 14.2 per cent.

In a latest report of the city, Da Nang attracted 218 FDI projects with a capital of $3.45 billion.

At the conference, the city's administration also reported that the tourism sector hosted over 1 million tourist arrivals, of which 313,000 were foreign tourists, in the first five months of the year, earning a revenue of VND2.33 trillion ($111 million).

A record number of 360,000 tourists flocked to the city over the course of just two days of the International Fireworks Competition on April 29-30.

However, in the real estate sector – a major revenue of the city, has been stagnated.

The chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Van Huu Chien said the city earned nearly VND500 billion ($24 million) from land-use taxes – 13.5 per cent of the city's revenue of VND3,700 trillion ($176 million) in the first five months.

The city has created 13,500 jobs so far. — VNS