Workers of Nghi Son Refinery operating a production line (Photo: investinthanhoa.gov) Hanoi (VNA) - The central province of Thanh Hoa is scheduled to organise an investment promotion conference on June 12-13, with the participation of around 400 delegates.
During the conference, Thanh Hoa will grant investment licences to a number of projects, sign several memoranda of understanding with potential investors, and introduce local projects that are calling for investments.
There will be field trips to the Nghi Son Economic Zone and other destinations in the locality.
Over the past years, Thanh Hoa has emerged as an economic and cultural centre of the north-central region, and an attractive destination for investors.
Land of potential
The fifth-largest province nationwide geographically, Thanh Hoa has a coastline of 102km, which is favourable for tourism and the development of seaports, along with National Highway 1A, the Ho Chi Minh Highway, the North-South railway and Tho Xuan Airport. It also has favourable conditions for aquaculture, especially shrimp, crab and seaweed.
With deep-water seaports, cement factories and an airport, the Nghi Son Economic Zone is expected to open up a new development path for coastal localities and the entire province at large.
In addition, the province is home to relic sites like Ho Dynasty Citadel, which has been recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Lam Kinh special national historical relic site and Ba Trieu Temple.
Along with beautiful beaches like Sam Son, Hai Tien, Hai Hoa, Tien Trang and Dong – Nghi Son, and Hon Me Islet, Thanh Hoa has been known for the Pu Luong and Pu Nhi-Xuan Lien nature reserves, Cam Luong Fish Stream, Ma Hao Falls, Voi (Elephant) Falls and May (Cloud) Falls.
Optimising resources
In recent years Thanh Hoa has invested in technical and social infrastructure, particularly in routes connecting localities in the province, leading to the Nghi Son Economic Zone, industrial parks and tourist sites, and linking Thanh Hoa with other provinces and the neighbouring country of Laos.
Thanh Hoa has favourable conditions in road transport, railway, waterway and air routes. Flights have been launched from Tho Xuan Airport to major economic and tourist areas nationwide.
Meanwhile, the Na Meo International Border Gate connects Thanh Hoa with Laos, and other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Apart from Nghi Son Port that can handle ships of 50,000 DWT, many seaports are under construction, such as Long Son, which is designed to accomodate ships of 100,000 DWT, serving as the door for the north-central region and the entire northern region to head towards the sea.
The local infrastructure has facilitated the operation of investors in the locality.
Covering more than 106,000ha, the Nghi Son Economic Zone has attracted many domestic and foreign projects, including the Nghi Son Thermo-electricity Plant and the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, which was put into operation in December 2018 and had a total investment of more than 9.3 billion USD.
A corner of the Nghi Son Economic Zone (Photo: VNA) Along with the Nghi Son Economic Zone, the Government has approved the planning of eight industrial parks in Thanh Hoa, with a combined area of 2,035ha.
Departments, agencies and localities in Thanh Hoa have paid attention to investment attraction and created favourable conditions for economic groups and businesses to operate in the locality.
As of the end of March, the Nghi Son Economic Zone had 228 domestic projects, valued at 130.08 trillion VND (5.63 billion USD at current exchange rate), and 19 foreign-invested projects worth over 12.6 billion USD. Other industrial parks attracted 335 domestic projects with total registered capital of 18.38 trillion VND and 41 foreign-invested projects with accumulative capital of 703 million USD.
To fully exploit the Tho Xuan Airport, Thanh Hoa has built the Lam Son-Sao Vang high-tech and industrial zone, covering an area of about 6,000ha, which, together with the Nghi Son Economic Zone, is expected to become a key economic area of the province.
Lam Son Sugarcane JSC (Photo: lasuco) Thanh Hoa has also attracted 790 businesses in agricultural production.
The province’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate during 2016-2020 is set at 12 percent. Therefore, this year’s GRDP growth must be at least 10 percent, growing 15.2 percent in the second half of the year.
However, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic which began at the beginning of 2020, the goal has been deemed as impossible./.
