The increasing demand for land space has encouraged Amata Vietnam to invest in expanding its industrial park.
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| Amata Industrial Park |
The increasing demand for land space has encouraged Amata
Vietnam to invest in expanding its industrial park
Amata Vietnam, the investor of the Amata Industrial Park in the city of Bien Hoa, Dong Nai Province, is striving to expand the IP’s area to meet the demand of enterprises and at the same time to provide better living conditions for the IP’s workers.
To meet the increasing demand of enterprises for land to lease, Amata Vietnam has begun the second phase of developing its industrial park, adding 95ha. The first phase has ended, with 129ha of land leased out to 50 enterprises.
The president of Amata Vietnam, Huynh Ngoc Phien, said that 25 enterprises already have registered for land lease, taking 60% of the land plots though phase 2A was begun only in early 2004.
The two largest investors of phase 2A are San Miguel from the Philippines and NOK from Japan. Other investors registered for land are Yung Chi, Ritek and Zamil Steel.
Phien says: “ A lot of investors have asked to lease in Dong Nai Province’s IPs but most of these IPs have run out of land. We believe that our expansion plan of phase 2A will soon terminate with all the land leased out. The increasing demand for land space has encouraged us to invest in the expansion”.
Amata Vietnam will begin phase 2B as soon as compensation and land clearing is completed. In phase 2B, some 75ha of land will possibly be leased to 30 enterprises.
Phien believes that more enterprises will ask for land at Amata if its area is further expanded. “ Dong Nai Province has a good environment for investment. The local government knows well what they have to do to lure investment. Like all other enterprises at Amata, we are very pleased with the province’s policies.”
In addition, the Amata IP has more advantages than other IPs nationally. It is on National Highway 1 and is only 30km from HCM City. It is also proud of having a green and clean environment and a stable supply of electricity.
The majority of enterprises at the IP are multinational companies, some 40% of which are Japanese, with Taiwanese second. This may be proof of Amata’s attractiveness to investors.
More than an IP
Amata Vietnam is a joint venture between Amata Corp. of Thailand and Vietnam’s Sonadezi Bien Hoa. Amata Vietnam embraces the ambition of developing its IP into a modern IP, similar to many IPs in Thailand, with all amenities built for its workers.
Phien says: “Our ambition is not only build a mere IP but also develop it into a small city within the city of Bien Hoa. Therefore, we have adopted a plan of building a series of amenities in this IP.”
Amata Vietnam is applying for permission for this project and it expects to have a license very soon because the improvement of the living conditions of the workers at IPs and export processing zones has become a great concern to Vietnam.
Its application for this project was filed in July 2004 but it had no reply from the Government until recently when the authority involved asked it to rewrite the project. The modified draft is again ready to be submitted to the Government.
According to its plans, Amata Vietnam will build a housing complex on 20ha of land, of which 5-7ha will be for houses for renting to its workers. Phien says: “These houses for rent to our workers may be a solution propitious to Bien Hoa since the city has many IPs but very few living quarters for their workers. If the problem of worker accommodation is solved, it will be an advantage to enterprises in Bien Hoa since they will be able to attract the labor from other provinces.”
Over 10,000 workers are employed in the Amata IP and this number will grow greatly when this IP is expanded.
In that complex Amata Vietnam will build a five-story commercial center and some office buildings of four to seven stories for lease.
In addition, Amata Vietnam plans to build some 25 villas to lease to the leaders of companies in the IP and their families since most of them have to commute from HCM City and wish to be able to live in the IP.
Amata Vietnam also plans to build a hotel in the IP to accommodate golfers from Asia, simply because the IP is between the two largest golf courses in Vietnam, one in District 9 of HCM City and one in Dong Nai Province. These are frequented by many golfers from Asian countries.
(Source: Saigontimesweekly)
