Shifting from quantity-based to quality-focused growth model

After many years of growth driven mainly by scale expansion, an increasing number of projects, and the exploitation of land and labor advantages, Dong Nai is entering a new, pivotal development cycle. This marks a shift from “extensive” to “intensive,” growth model with growth quality, efficiency in resource use, and sustainability as the core pillars.

Manufacturing of electrical equipment inside Long Duc Industrial Park (IP), one of the IPs currently undergoing a transition toward an eco-oriented development model. Photo: Hoang Loc.

Extensive growth reaches its limits

Dong Nai is widely known as one of the country’s industrial cradles. For more than half a century, the province has consistently maintained its position as a locality with an early and synchronized IP system, ranking among national leaders in investment attraction as well as export-import turnover, making significant contributions to the state budget and job creation.

It can be said that the growth model based on expanding IPs and attracting a large number of investment projects helped Dong Nai achieve remarkable success during the renovation period and the early stage of national industrialization. Dozens of IPs were established successively, not only in the provincial core areas but also spreading to former districts and towns. Continuous inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) enabled the province’s IPs to quickly reach some of the highest average occupancy rates nationwide. As a result, Dong Nai achieved high growth, expanded its economic scale, developed technical and social infrastructure, and gradually improved living standards. Hundreds of thousands of workers from across the country came to work and settle in the province.

About a decade ago, however, the growth model based on scale expansion and extensive investment attraction began to reveal its limitations. At the same time, global value chains entered a phase of restructuring, while standards on the environment, emissions, and technology became increasingly stringent. Against this backdrop, Dong Nai, as a major industrial hub of the country, embraced a philosophy centered on sustainable growth and has entered a transition from a quantity-based growth model to a quality-centered one.

Transitioning investment attraction from “brown” to “green”

In Dong Nai’s economic structure, the industry–construction sector accounts for an average of around 60 percent, making it the first area to undergo transformation in the province. While the early phase of industrialization prioritized attracting as many projects as possible and rapidly expanding production scale, the province is now gradually changing its approach: no longer pursuing quantity-based growth, nor trading environmental quality and living standards for mere growth figures.

From the 10th Provincial Party Congress (2015–2020 term) through the 11th Provincial Party Congress (2020–2025 term), and in the Dong Nai Provincial Planning for the 2021–2030 period with a vision to 2050 currently under adjustment, the province has remained consistent in its guiding principle: selectively attracting investment, prioritizing projects with high science and technology content, environmental friendliness, high value added, and strong integration into global value chains. Projects using outdated technology, labor-intensive processes, and posing high environmental pollution risks are firmly rejected.

Alongside its changes in investment attraction methods, the province has proactively restructured its development space toward greater sustainability. The functional conversion of Bien Hoa 1 IP—the oldest IP in the country—is a typical example of this approach. Accordingly, all existing factories and workshops are being relocated to create room for modern, green, and sustainable urban development along the Dong Nai River.

According to Member of the Provincial Party Committee (PPC) and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Ho Van Ha, this decision not only addresses infrastructure shortcomings and reduces environmental risks, but also serves as vivid evidence of a new development mindset: prioritizing the quality of living space, urban quality, and long-term development value. It also reflects the province’s determination in governance and its strategic resolve to shape Dong Nai’s future development.

Quality growth - lever for sustainable development

According to Deputy Secretary of the PPC and Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Ut, in 2025, Dong Nai ranked first nationwide in fulfilling the growth targets assigned by the Government, with GRDP reaching 9.63 percent. Beyond impressive growth momentum, the province also demonstrated clear improvements in development quality through labor productivity, efficiency in resource use, environmental quality, and living standards, with average income exceeding 150 million VND per person. Satisfaction levels among citizens and businesses ranked third out of 34 provinces and centrally governed cities.

In 2025, Dong Nai attracted more than 163 trillion VND in domestic investment capital and over 3 billion USD in foreign direct investment, placing it among the leading localities nationwide. Currently, the province’s IPs and economic zones host more than 2,760 investment projects from 45 countries and territories and domestic investors, with total registered capital nearing USD 37 billion and over 171 trillion VND.

Both the Resolution of the 11th Provincial Party Congress for the 2025–2030 term and the Resolution on the socio-economic development plan for the 2026–2030 period identify socio-economic development and environmental protection as central tasks. Priorities include developing the digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, and knowledge economy; taking the lead in aviation economy development, high-tech industry, high-tech agriculture, logistics centers, science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Economic development is to go hand in hand with cultural and social development, environmental protection, and the improvement of people’s material and spiritual living standards.

At the Provincial Workshop on clean energy development strategy and the investment framework for IPs held in late December 2025, Deputy Head of Dong Nai Economic and Industrial Zones Authority, said that in the key industrial sector, Dong Nai is accelerating carbon emission reduction, promoting renewable energy in industrial parks, and raising standards for wastewater and waste treatment infrastructure to maintain and strengthen its competitive edge in investment attraction. At the same time, the province is advancing the intensive and extensive application of digital technologies in management, production, and services, thereby improving labor productivity, optimizing costs, and increasing added value, opening up new growth space.

By Ban Mai – Translated by M.Nguyet, Thu Ha