Dong Nai has been implementing a green growth strategy in recent years, which prioritises investment in environmentally-friendly industrial parks, a local official claims.
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Dong Nai has been implementing a green growth strategy in recent years, which prioritises investment in environmentally-friendly industrial parks, a local official claims.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Dinh Quoc Thai, confirmed that despite a focus on industrial advancement, the province places a high premium on environmental protection.
Local authorities have declined a number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects which are technologically backward and environmentally polluted, said Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Bo Ngoc Thu.
Dong Nai gives priority to investment in support industry, information technology, hi-tech agriculture, and the farm produce processing industry, which are supported by clean production technology.
Simultaneously, the province has decided to halt investment in producing paper or wood-pulp from crude material, processing cassava starch, rubber latex, leather and chemical substances, she noted.
The province plans to establish hi-tech industrial parks, develop a knowledge-based economy, invest in local staples and expand services at industrial and urban areas through to 2020, she added.
It will also push ahead with promoting the application of science and technology into agriculture production and upgrading technical infrastructure, while encouraging foreign businesses to invest in industrial sectors with high levels of technology.
After more than 30 years of construction and development, Dong Nai has become one of the leading localities in the country in terms of per capita GDP, with industry and construction making up 56.9 percent of the provincial economic structure.
Over the past five years, the province maintained an annual economic growth of 12 percent or above, double the country’s average growth (5.8 percent).
From a trade-deficit locality, Dong Nai now is among top five cities and provinces in attracting FDI projects, including many worth over 100 million USD such as those run by Formosa (Taiwan), Vedan (Singapore and Taiwan), Hualon (Malaysia and Taiwan) and Fujitsu (Japan).
The province is home to 31 industrial parks with the rate of occupancy averaging 67 percent. All of the parks possess completed waste treatment systems.
As of mid-May 2015, the province granted investment licences to 1,488 projects worth 27.10 billion USD, of which 1,133 are still valid.
The province’s chairman noted that the operation of the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh- Dau Giay highway project and improvements to infrastructure and logistic services have enabled greater trade activities between the province and its vicinities.
Regarding agriculture, the province has zoned off areas to grow highly-profitable crops such as maize, mangoes, pepper, dragon fruits. It also has the largest herd of domesticated animals in the southern region, including 1.2 million pigs and 12 million chickens.
Dong Nai also leads the nation in modernising rural areas with 52 out of its 136 communes and two districts recognised as fulfilling the standards of the new-style rural building programme.
(Source: VNA)
