Ba Ria-Vung Tau improves investment environment to attract FDI

Phu My 3 Specialised Industrial Park in Phu My town. Photo: VNA

Ba Ria –Vung Tau (VNA) – Located in the Southeast region, Ba Ria – Vung Tauprovince is working to full tap its natural advantages and defining clearpriorities to attract investment, contributing to turning the southeast into adynamic region with highest growth rate and the biggest growth driver of thecountry.

*Outstanding advantages

A geographical location near the sea with a deep-sea port and developedtechnical and transport infrastructure, especially a favourable transportnetwork, has brought Ba Ria-Vung Tau many competitive advantages, attractingmany investors. 

The Southeast region is accessible by all fivetransport means of land, railway, inland waterway, maritime and aviation.

According to Minister ofTransport Nguyen Van Thang, the development of transport infrastructure in theregion has received due attention in commensurate with its potential andadvantages. In the road development masterplan for 2021-2030 with a vision to2050, which has been approved by the Prime Minister, attention is paid to thenetwork of roads (expressways and national roads) connecting the southeast withHo Chi Minh City, the Long Thanh International Airport, international bordergates and the Cai Mep – Thi Vai international port. At the same time, theTransport Ministry has completed and submitted to the PM for approval four outof five national masterplans in the sector, enabling the Southeast region andregional provinces to integrate transport planning into their own developmentmasterplans, thus helping build a complete and integrated transport network forthe region.

Chau Duc Industrial Park in Chau Duc district. Photo: VNA

Also under the road development masterplan,expressways running from North to South will be build in the eastern andwestern parts of the Southeast region, along with expressways connecting Ho ChiMinh City with key gateways, transport hubs and beltways, and 20 national roadswith a combined length of 1,743 km. This road network will facilitate bothpassenger and cargo transport across the region, investment attraction andsocio-economic development.    

Luong Anh Tuan, deputy director of the provincial Department of Transport, saidthe province will step by step invest in building intra-region roads, such as aroad leading to the Long Son oil and gas industrial park, roads in the Cai Mep– Thi Vai port cluster, Road 991B, and the Phuoc Hoa – Cai Mep road, towardscompleting the coastal economic corridor, facilitating the development of localIPs, seaports, inland ports and logistics centres. 

Aside from transport infrastructure, Ba Ria –Vung Tau has a big advantage with the Cai Mep – Thi Vai port cluster. Chairmanof the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tho said according to thenational seaport development master plan for 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050,seaports in Ba Ria – Vung Tau are in Group 4 and classified as specialseaports. Cai Mep – Thi Vai is among 23 ports in the world capable ofaccommodating ships of up to 214,000 tonnes. Among international transshipmentports, it has the highest frequency of direct routes to Europe and the US, andalso one of the 50 seaports with the highest container throughput in the world.

Given its outstanding advantages, Ba Ria - Vung Tau attracted about 2.07billion USD worth of domestic and foreign investment in 2022, while 1,900 newenterprises were established and 596 others resumed operation. At a conferenceto launch an action plan to implement the Politburo’s Resolution 24-NQ/TW at the end of November this year, Ba Ria– Vung Tau leaders presented investment licences and investment cooperationminutes to 10 projects in the province with total investment capital topping 8billion USD. The projects include one on phase two of the southernpetrochemical complex, another on producing CLT wood for construction, one onexpanding the Marubeni paper plant, a project on manufacturing HD displays, theFivestar Odyssey condotel project, and those on a port storage facility, a Polypropylene (PP) factory and anunderground LPG storage facility. 

* Creating favourableinvestment environment

Besides its advantages, Ba Ria – Vung Tau authorities also committhemselves to continuing to create a favourable environment for investment withtransparent investment attraction policies based on local economic pillars.  

According to Chairman Tho, in the period from 2021-2025, the province has setthe goal of developing industry, seaport, tourism and hi-tech agriculture. Theprovince pursues a consistent policy on selective investment attraction, givingpriority to projects of large scale, using modern and environmentally-friendlytechnology and producing high added value instead of labour intensive ones. Atthe same time, the province aims to develop seaport and port logistics servicesinto a key industry to support other industries, trade and services.

A leader of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province signs memoranda of understanding on investment with investors. (Photo: Ngoc Son)

To realise the goal, the provincial People’s Committee is resolved toenhance its leadership capacity and create the best possible environment forthe development of enterprises and investors. The province is intensifyingadministrative reform, and is the first locality in the country to integratedigital signatures on mobile platform into the public service portal,facilitating transactions of citizens and enterprises. 

The investment-business environment in Ba Ria – Vung Tau has always beenhighly rated by enterprises. For many consecutive years, the province has beenin the top groups in the rankings of Provincial governance and publicadministration (PAPI) index, Public administration reform (PAR) index,provincial competitiveness index (PCI), readiness for Information and Communications Technology (ICT index) andthe Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services./.

VNA