BẮC GIANG — The northern province of Bắc Giang is applying measures to implement its investment promotion programme for 2021 with an aim to attract about US$1.3 billion worth of investment in 2021, said Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Lê Ánh Dương.

The provincial leader said that in the area of industry, the province will prioritise projects with a high proportion of high, new, green and energy-saving technology, using domestic materials and commitment to technology transfer and labour training, and making great contributions to the province’s budget revenue.

The northern province has designed particular areas for projects in different fields, including industry, agriculture, tourism, services, urban areas, logistics, entertainment and healthcare, he said.

Accordingly, projects in electronic industry will be placed in industrial parks (IPs) and industrial clusters in Việt Yên, Tân Yên, Hiệp Hòa, Yên Dũng and Lạng Giang districts as well as Bắc Giang City. Priority will be given to projects producing computers, peripheral devices, semi-conductor accessories and accessories for electronic household appliances, mobile phones, and products for export and joining global value chains.

Meanwhile, garment projects will be located in planned IPs and industrial clusters, while electricity and manufacturing projects will be placed in new IPs and industrial clusters in Hiệp Hòa and Yên Dũng areas, and agro-forestry and food processing projects in Lục Ngạn, Lục Nam and Hiệp Hòa districts.

In the field of agriculture, Bắc Giang will encourage investment in large-scale, green agricultural projects using high and environmentally-friendly technologies.

In trade-service sector, the province aims to lure investment in developing service-urban areas, thus forming a number of national tourist sites. Urban areas, trade centres, high-end hotels and entertainment centres, as well as projects in logistics, financial, insurance and healthcare sectors will be developed in Bắc Giang City, while a number of resorts will be built in Lạng Giang, Lục Ngạn and Lục Nam districts.

Bắc Giang will also encourage investors to develop tourism projects as well as trade centres, supermarkets, rural markets, retail and wholesale chains, resort and eco-tourism, sport and entertainment complexes and hi-end service-hotel areas in Bắc Giang City.

In order to optimise advantages of each region, in 2021 and beyond, Bắc Giang will focus on calling for investment projects in particular regions, with the core being areas along the National Highway 1A and Bắc Giang City.

For foreign-invested projects, Bắc Giang will strive to lure partners which have global brands with great financial capacity and long-term operation, and projects in supporting industries. Meanwhile, the locality will not encourage those without long-term investment commitment or depending on borrowed capital and using a large number of labourers and outdated technologies.

For domestically-invested projects, the province will call for investment from businesses in the list of 500 largest firms of Việt Nam (VNR500), especially in areas of agriculture, trade and services.

Nguyễn Cường, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, said that in the first two months of 2021, Bac Giang attracted over $588 million in investment, 4.5 times higher than that in the same period last year.

Notably, the province granted investment licences to a number of large projects, including $270-million Fukang Technology Factory invested by Foxconn Singapore PTE Ltd, and a US$210 million Ja Solar PV Vietnam project funded by Ja Solar Investment (Hong Kong) Limited.

Recently, the Prime Minister has agreed to build three industrial parks and expand three others in Bắc Giang Province.

In 2020, Bắc Giang granted new licences and permitted additional investment to 215 projects with total registered investment of nearly $1.4 billion, up 7.3 per cent year on year, rising to the ninth position among provinces and cities nationwide in FDI attraction. — VNS