Phú Mỹ Dry Port in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Dương

BÀ RỊA-VŨNG TÀU — The southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu has called for investment into 110 projects, said Nguyễn Công Vinh, deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

The province has also planned to develop seven new industrial parks (IPs) and five industrial clusters, bringing the total number of IPs in the province to 24 covering an area of over 16,000ha and 16 clusters with a total area of 547ha to better facilitate investors, the deputy chairman said.

The locality has paid attention to attracting high-quality projects creating breakthroughs for the local industry which is developing towards modernisation and sustainability.

Competent departments and sectors have provided investors in prioritised fields with support in industrial infrastructure, and helped other enterprises remove financial bottlenecks so that they can expand business and production.

Last year, the foreign investment inflow into the province reached US$1.4 billion, up 92 per cent year-on-year or 54 per cent higher than the yearly target, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Of the sum, $893 million came from 21 newly licensed projects, up 221 per cent year-on-year while the remainder of $508 million from 29 capital-added ones, a yearly hike of 12 per cent.

Currently, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu is home to 458 valid foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of over $31.53 billion.

Particularly, the province has lured several large-scale projects with investment capital of more than $1 billion such as the $5.1-billion Long Sơn Petrochemical Complex invested by Thailand’s Siam Cement Group, and a Polypropylene (PP) plant and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage cavern worth $1.3 billion invested by Hyosung Vina from South Korea.

The department said the province has also had 710 domestically-financed projects with capital totalling over VNĐ384 trillion ($15.76 billion). Of the total, 287 projects, worth over VNĐ160 trillion has gone to IPs.

According to the provincial People's Committee, the province would focus on calling for large-scale non-labour intensive projects with advanced technologies and high value-added products in the coming time.

It would also encourage investors to renew their production lines and technologies to improve productivity and product quality while saving energy, it said.

As the province is striving to attract at least $15 billion worth of foreign investment by 2025, it has invested in a modern transport system besides developing the industrial infrastructure.

It has identified four sectors as prioritised sectors for investment attraction that are industry, maritime economics, logistics services; tourism and high-quality services associated with the development of a modern urban system.

In the future, the province will focus on developing a system of logistics centres and international transhipment ports at Cái Mép-Thị Vải. At the same time, it will also build large-scale industrial-service and urban area complexes in Phú Mỹ District. — VNS