Bridgestone Tyre Manufacturing Vietnam, an affiliate of Japan's Bridgestone Corporation, ln Feb. 1 was granted an Investment Certificate to build a car tyre manufacturing plant in Hai Phong City's Dinh Vu Industrial Zone.

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony that was attended by high ranking leaders of the city's members of the Economic Zone Authority, Duong Anh Dien, chairman of the city People's Committee, said the tyre plant is the biggest FDI (foreign direct investment) project in the city so far.

Yazaki Susumu, general director of Bridgestone Tyre Manufacturing Vietnam (BTMW), said the 575 million USD plant would have a production capacity of 24,700 units per day. He said production would start in the first half of 2014.

BTMW is the fifth Japanese firm to invest in the Hai Phong IZ, after Nakashima (propeller production), RK Engineering (steel tank production), SIC (LAS production) and Shin-Etsu (rare earth magnet production).

The IZ is currently in the process of expanding to 377ha. It has attracted 1.5 billion USD in investment, with Japanese firms making up 45 percent of the total capital. /.