Amata lets money do talking

06:01, 16/01/2012

Amata Corporation will pump $345 million into three projects in Dong Nai province.

Amata Corporation will pump $345 million into three projects in southern Dong Nai province.

The Thai corporation recently received approval in principle from Dong Nai People’s Committee for building a new 420-hectare industrial park in this province. This project will cost around $75 million.

The investment is aimed at supporting the rising demand for industrial land in southern Vietnam due to attractive investment incentives, as well as low labour costs, a good workforce and well developed infrastructure.

Besides the industrial park project, the Thai developer also planned to build two urban projects in the province’s Long Thanh district with total investment capital of $270 million, said Huynh Ngoc Phien, general director of Amata Vietnam.

The investment expansion underscored Amata Corporation’s priority for Vietnam’s market, where it has been operating a 600ha park since 1994 in a joint venture with Vietnamese state-owned Sonadezi Bien Hoa. According to Amata Vietnam, this existing park is entirely occupied by foreign investors.

Phien said the new industrial park would serve the growing investment projects from Japan and Europe. Projects in hi-tech and environmental friendly sectors would be prioritised, he added.

Amata Vietnam’s proposed investment expansion matches provincial authorities’ development directions in 2012 and the ensuing years to tackle labour competition with neighbouring locations such as Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province.

Dong Nai had put restrictions on labour intensive projects with low-added values in textile-garment, footwear and wood processing areas and temporarily stopped granting investment certificates to pollution-prone projects and industrial parks with incomplete waste-water treatment systems, said provincial Department of Planning and Investment head Bo Ngoc Thu.

She added the focus shift to investment attraction might be one among many reasons behind sliding total committed foreign direct investment capital in the province in 2011 and possibly in 2012.

The southern province lured in $928 billion in total foreign direct investment capital in 2011 from 41 newly registered and 68 projects with supplemental capital and set to woo $900 million in 2012.

(Source:VIR)