Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on February 20 attended a ceremony held to mark the opening of southern Binh Duong province's new seat of government and the start of construction of Binh Duong New City.

The Centralised Administration Centre, which comprises twin towers 104 metres high, has 21 storeys for offices and two for parking and a heliport on the roof, according to the provincial People's Committee.

The 104,000sq.m centre will house most local agencies' offices, including the Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee and most departments and sectors in the province.

PM Dung praised the province's efforts in overcoming difficulties to achieve economic growth that was double the national average.

He said Binh Duong has successfully striven to transform itself from a farming-reliant province to one of the leading industrial hubs in the country while ensuring commensurate cultural and social development.

He said the opening of the new Administration Centre is of great significance, since it is the most modern of such facilities in the country thus far.

The Centralised Administration Centre was built by Becamex IDC at a cost of more than 1.4 trillion VND (66.4 million USD) under the BT (build-transfer) model.

There is an exhibition and convention centre built at a cost of 416.7 billion VND (19.76 million USD) inside the complex.

The centre would play an important role in improving the province’s administration and the development of Binh Duong New City would attract high-quality human resource and investors, Tran Thanh Liem, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, said.

Covering an area of 1,000 hectares, Binh Duong New City, located in the 4,196ha Binh Duong industrial, urban, and service complex, will be developed into a modern urban area and Binh Duong city's central business district by 2020 under a Government master plan.

At the inaugural ceremony, the province gave away investment certificates to several investors and certificates of merit to outstanding businesses and announced projects that will kick off this year.

The event was attended by some 1,500 people, including officials and local and foreign investors.

The construction and development of Binh Duong New City has created favourable conditions for the province to attract more foreign investment.

So far this year it has attracted 715 million USD, Mai Hung Dung, director of the local Department of Planning and Investment, said.

This includes 189 million USD in 20 new projects and 525 million USD in 19 existing projects, according to the department.-VNA