26 years ago, the Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Joint Venture Company was formed, opening the "door" for Binh Duong to step into a new standard industrial park model, attracting investors, promoting the local industrial development. Up to now, Binh Duong has always been a strategic investment choice of Singapore corporations and businesses with large investment capital.
New standard industrial park
From the bridge that is the Government of Vietnam and Singapore, the dynamism of provincial leaders in the period of Binh Duong just re-established, the VSIP Joint Venture Company was formed between Binh Duong’s leading State-owned enterprise (Becamex IDC) and a Singaporean partner (Sempcorp Corporation). This is a strategic step with a reputable partner having experience in implementing projects on an international scale, especially in attracting and promoting industrial investment on a global scale. Binh Duong learned about Singapore's sustainable industrial development, based on a perfect ecosystem serving investors, workers and people, which is a big turning-point in standardizing the local industrial development model over the past 25 years.
Provincial leaders receive and work with representatives of Singapore’s Sembcorp Group in May
Nguyen Van Hung, CEO of Becamex IDC said: “The birth of VSIP Joint Venture has brought Binh Duong a new perspective, a new standard model, gradually forming up the concept of "development being not only about industry”. Industrial parks will not be able to exist sustainably if they are not interwoven with high-class urban areas to serve the needs of investors, social housing areas for low-income workers and resettlement areas for people in the area of compensation and site clearance. In addition, there is a system of convenient services such as healthcare, schools ... ".
Within the framework of a joint venture, it is not possible to perform all the above tasks, including political duties and sacrifices for social responsibility. Realizing that Binh Duong’s leading State-owned enterprises have learned and drawn the quintessence of Singapore's industrial development model, thereby supplementing and adjusting it in line with the needs of Binh Duong in particular and Vietnam in general.
With the fulcrum and resonance foundation of Binh Duong, the success of the VSIP model has been created. From the first VSIP with an area of 500 hectares in Thuan An city, up to now, VSIP has developed 11 projects with a total area of nearly 10,000 hectares in 8 provinces and cities across the country. The joint venture is providing production infrastructure for 880 customers from 30 countries and territories, with total investment of US$ 17 billion, creating jobs for more than 295,000 domestic and foreign workers. VSIP has become a standard model for green, modern and environmentally friendly industrial park development.
In March 2022, Binh Duong held the groundbreaking ceremony of VSIP III with a total area of 1,000 hectares, continuing marking the friendship and cooperation relationship for sustainable development of the two sides. VSIP III will focus on attracting projects that apply technology and innovation towards a green, smart and sustainable IP. Currently, a number of large corporations, including Lego and Pandora of Denmark have been investing in VSIP III. Binh Duong currently has 3 VSIPs.
Attractive destination
With an open and attractive investment climate, Binh Duong is always among Vietnam’s top localities in FDI attraction. Binh Duong is also always evaluated as one of the country’s top localities in planning and developing industrial parks and compounds with a modern, synchronous, environmentally friendly infrastructure at the local demand for investment attraction. Currently, Singapore is the third largest investor in Binh Duong with 275 projects and total capital of US$5.4 billion.
Main investment fields include investment in industrial park infrastructure development, production of electronic components, electrical equipment, production of pharmaceuticals and products, medical equipment, food processing and all kinds of warehousing, logistics and real estate services...Many Singaporean corporations and businesses, namely Mapletree Group's high-tech industrial park project, Ascendas Industrial Park - Protrade, VSIP I, II III, Uniben Joint Stock Company, Guoco Land project, CapitaLand...have chosen Binh Duong as an investment place for strategic development with great investment capital.
Wong Kim Yin, CEO of Sembcorp Group said: “In the coming time, Sembcorp Group and VSIP will further contribute to the growth of Binh Duong, helping people get a better life. Accordingly, investment capital will be mobilized in green fields, green technology and next-generation, more sustainable manufacturers. In addition, investment in 4.0 technology application will be implemented at Eastern International University (EIU) with the desire of achieving the goal of attracting talents, creating high-quality human resources at development needs, participating in production and business at smart factories”.
Lim Hua Tiong, General Director of Singapore’s New Motion Industry Co. Ltd. said: "Currently, many Singaporean enterprises choose Binh Duong for investment. This is the demonstration for the province’s dynamic and favorable investment climate that is always attractive to Singaporean enterprises in particular and foreign investors in general. This is also the reason why our company has chosen Binh Duong for investment. We aim at developing more than 200,000 square meters of factories with many utilities in the next 6-7 years.”
Reported by Phuong Le-Translated by Kim Tin