Currently, the occupancy rate of industrial parks in Binh Duong is estimated at nearly 94%. Photo: Gia Han

FDI capital in Binh Duong shows signs of decline

According to the Binh Duong Province Socio-Economic Report, as of July 31, foreign investment in the province attracted an additional 70.2 million USD. In the first 7 months, it attracted 1.065 billion USD, including 110 new investment projects (487 million USD), 81 projects with increased capital (566 million USD).

“Attracting foreign investment has decreased, some enterprises have terminated projects ahead of schedule; investment progress and implementation of industrial parks (IPs) are still slow,” the report stated.

Binh Duong’s economy has always been at the top of the country thanks to growth largely from industrial parks with huge foreign investment projects. However, recently, many local limitations have gradually been revealed such as lack of clean land, high rental prices, lack of human resources… from these factors also make investors consider shifting opportunities to new lands.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Khanh, CEO of Vietnam Industrial Park Information Portal, said that the clean land fund in Binh Duong industrial parks is not large anymore, which is also something that the province needs to pay attention to. Because when the occupancy rate is very high, the shift of FDI to other localities is inevitable, so the growth rate will also gradually decrease. In addition, the rental price in Binh Duong industrial parks is currently quite high compared to neighboring areas, making investors hesitant.

Or as economic expert Nguyen Tri Hieu commented, the Southeast provinces, including Binh Duong, have had the leading advantage of attracting FDI investment for many years. But now that the land area in industrial parks is gradually shrinking, investors will tend to move to the Mekong Delta with the advantage of large land and also gradually being planned for more developed transport infrastructure.

In fact, according to data from the Provincial People's Committee, the industrial parks have leased 79.22 hectares of land. Thus, by the end of July 2024, the industrial parks in the area had leased 7,067.49 hectares of land, with an occupancy rate of 93.7%.

The province has also organized a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of An Lap industrial cluster (75 hectares); is researching investment in mechanical industrial parks, concentrated information technology parks..., serving to attract the automobile mechanical industry and develop high-tech industries to expand investment attraction.

Industry is gradually losing its advantage, it is necessary to develop all fields evenly.

According to the summary report from the People's Committee of Binh Duong province, after 7 months, industrial production activities have improved, and the province's key export industries have gradually recovered. However, the supporting industry is still facing difficulties, the cost of raw materials and transportation is still high, the export market is very competitive... affecting the province's industrial production index, increasing only 5.63% compared to the same period in 2023.

Besides the orientation of industry as a key industry, with the decline as analyzed above. Binh Duong is also promoting the development of other strong fields such as agriculture, trade - services... and has also achieved many achievements.

Accordingly, in the trade and service sector, the province has effectively implemented the market stabilization program, stockpiled goods for the 2024 Lunar New Year; implemented promotional programs, stimulated consumption, combining traditional trade and e-commerce. Total retail sales of goods and service revenue reached 195,000 billion VND, up 13% over the same period.

Import and export activities maintained a fairly high growth rate compared to the same period last year. Specifically: Export turnover reached 18.9 billion USD, up 8.6% over the same period; import turnover reached 13.5 billion USD, up 10.6%.

In addition, Binh Duong agriculture also enhances trade connection events to promote products with the province's brand to bring higher efficiency and value to this field in the local economy.

At the press conference and information on the socio-economic situation on August 2, the provincial leaders affirmed that Binh Duong will continue to implement the Government's resolutions, the directions of the Prime Minister, ministries, central branches and the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee. Grasp the situation, analyze, forecast, and develop economic growth scenarios for the third quarter and the whole year of 2024 to have appropriate solutions, strongly promote economic growth drivers...

Actively remove difficulties for businesses and investors to speed up the expansion of industrial parks and new investment in industrial clusters according to the planning; build criteria for developing ecological and high-tech industries; perfect the policy of relocating businesses from the South to industrial parks and clusters in the North, etc.

Urgently organize a conference to announce the planning after it is approved by the Prime Minister. Implement the tasks in the decision approving the Southeast regional planning. Focus on completing the adjustment of the general planning and regional planning of the remaining localities; 5-year land use plan.

Focus on resolving difficulties in disbursing public investment capital. Pay attention to implementing and investing in inter-regional and intra-regional transport infrastructure projects and education, healthcare, science and technology infrastructure. Speed ​​up the implementation of key public investment projects...

Synchronously deploy solutions to ensure revenue sources, balance revenue and expenditure of the State budget in 2024, spend budget economically and effectively. Have solutions to improve access to credit capital for businesses, investors, people, especially social housing buyers...