Phu Tho (VNA) - The northern province of Phu Tho is emerging as anattractive destination for both local and foreign investors thanks to its uniforminfrastructure, open policies, and safe business climate.

Theprovince has attracted 103 investment projects over the last five years,including 53 FDI projects, in the four operational industrial parks (IPs) ofThuy Van, Trung Ha, Phu Ha, and Cam Khe. The number of workers at the IPs has surged,growing from just 28,000 in 2015 to 42,000 in 2020, for an increase of over3,000 each year on average.

The four IPsare now home to 172 projects in total, including 79 FDI projects, with totalregistered investment of 1.67 billion USD. Most investors hail from theRepublic of Korea (RoK), China, or Japan, and have primarily poured capital intoelectronics, mechanics, textiles and garments, packaging, food processing,agricultural and forestry products, construction materials, and cattle feed.

A numberof hi-tech, large-scale FDI projects have landed in the province, for examplethe Namuga Phu Tho, JNTC Vina, Almus Vina electronic component manufacturingprojects, and the Hanyang Digitech Vina semiconductor component project, all fromthe RoK.

Establishedlast year at the Phu Ha IP, Hanyang Digitech Vina is engaged in producingmemory devices such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used in personalcomputers as well as memory modules used in servers. The 45-million USD projectis capable of producing 25 million single items each year and expects this to reach100 million by the end of 2023. Main customers include global tech giantsMicrosoft, Facebook, Google, HP, and Dell.

Choi DongHyeon, CEO of Hanyang Digitech Vina, said the company decided to shift itsproduction base to Vietnam because of the country’s political stability andopen investment environment. Phu Tho, in particular, offers various supportpolicies and ample workers, he said, adding that local IPs have good infrastructureand easy road access that make for the convenient transportation of goods.

Phu Ha IPexpects to welcome 16 more FDI projects in the near future, on a combined areaof about 100 ha and with registered capital of up to 400 million USD. The newprojects will create around 10,000 to 12,000 jobs.

FDIinflows have fuelled Phu Tho’s industrial production, which has been valued at morethan 20 trillion VND this year, nearly 20-fold higher than in 2015, with greatershares going to processing and manufacturing and supporting industries. Exportrevenue of the industrial sector doubled to 1.35 billion USD in 2020 comparedto 630 million USD five years ago.

Theprovince’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has increased 9.8 percentannually, with processing and manufacturing posting an avereage 10.9 percentgrowth rate per year.

Phu Thois bracing itself for a new wave of FDI flows into Vietnam caused by the on-goingtrend of relocation of global production bases.

It hasbeen speeding up the construction of infrastructure at new IPs and upgradingthose in operation, especially regarding power and water supply, wastewatertreatment, and telecommunications, according to Chairman of the provincialPeople’s Committee Bui Van Quang.

He also notedthat, in the near future, Phu Tho will break ground at three new IPs - Phu Ninh(100 ha), Tam Nong (350 ha), and Ha Hoa (400 ha), to meet increasing demand amonginvestors. The IPs will be conveniently connected to the Hanoi - Lao CaiExpressway and National Highway No 2.

Phu Tho alsoplans to further streamline and improve administrative procedures relating to investment,land acquisitions, and basic construction, while developing exclusive financialmechanisms to remove bottlenecks in site clearance, he added./.