Bac Ninh (VNA) – The Red River Deltaprovince of Bac Ninh ranks second nationwide in foreign direct investment (FDI)attraction in 2017, with 3.5 billion USD poured into 270 new and existing projectsin 2017.

Last year, a range of big-scale projects wereimplemented in Bac Ninh, including an expansion project of Samsung DisplayLtd., Co. valued at 2.5 billion USD and several multi-million-dollar others, likethose of Misumi Ltd., Co and Hana Micron.

Over the past five years, the province lured 672projects with accumulated capital reaching nearly 17 billion USD.

Thanks to the stable investment inflow, in 2017, BacNinh’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) grew by 19.12 percent, exceedingthe set target of between 9-9.2 percent.

In the year, the province’s industrial productionwas valued at more than 968.8 trillion VND (42.6 billion USD). Its exportturnover stood at 29.85 billion USD, accounting for 14.9 percent of thecountry’s total figure, and its budget collection was 21.6 trillion VND (950.4million USD).

Bac Ninh has zoned 16 concentrated industrial parks,of which nine have been put into operation with an average occupancy rate of63.46 percent. The IPs house businesses mainly operating in electricity,telecom electronics, electronic spare parts and pharmaceutical products, withtotal capital of nearly 16.85 billion USD. Of the sum, nearly 15 billion USDcomes from FDI businesses. 

With 557 projects, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japantake the lead among 33 countries and territories investing in Bac Ninh.

Akio Kawabata, General Director of Fujikin Bac Ninh,said apart from favourable conditions in terms of nature and human resources,Bac Ninh has made great efforts to improve its investment environment.

The FDI inflow has given Bac Ninh a boost, helping thelocality create breakthroughs in economic development and implement socialwelfare policy.

Nguyen Tu Quynh, Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee, said Bac Ninh has focused on building an attractive investmentenvironment by helping businesses with infrastructure building in and outsideindustrial parks, and land clearance.

Besides, Bac Ninh has facilitated linkages between enterprisesand training institutes and vocational centres, he said, adding that theprovince is implementing the model of public administrative centre acrossdistricts.

However, the provincial Department of Planning andInvestment said, the FDI projects have failed to help boost the support industryas expected.

Therefore, Bac Ninh has begun to consider adjusting polices toimprove the quality of the FDI inflow.

Accordingly, the province will prioritise high-techand environmentally friendly projects, while assisting the development of  the support industry and infrastructure liketransport, electricity, water, waste and waste water treatment.

Attention will be paid to stimulating services ofhigh-added value such as finance, banking, insurance, IT, telecommunicationsand software, among others, during 2020-2030, with a vision towards 2030-2050.

The province has encouraged investments under the BOT(Build-Operate-Transfer) and BT (Build-Transfer) forms, along with implementingthe public-private partnership (PPP) model.-VNA