The first industrial park in the South: Accomplish mission

After nearly 6 decades of establishment and operation, the first industrial park in the South named Bien Hoa Industrial Park (in Dong Nai province) is preparing to complete its mission.

Ups and downs

In June 1961, the Ministry of Economy of Saigon government advocated to build an industrial park in Bien Hoa city, from which Bien Hoa industrial zone was established in Tam Hiep and Long Binh communes of Bien Hoa in May 1963 with an area of ​​376 hectares. This is an ideal location, located on the arterial roads between Saigon, Central region and the highlands, extremely convenient for local traffic; integrated with railway, waterway (Dong Nai river) and road.

Mr. Huynh Tan Loc, Vice Chairman of Bien Hoa City People’s Committee, said that the locality is conceiving a compensation and support project according to current regulations, with a total cost of compensation and support for households of more than 259 billion VND. The city has also prepared 200 resettlement places allocating to relevant residents.

By 1975, Bien Hoa Industrial Park had 94 factories and enterprises, with diversified investment capital and plenty of production industry groups  such as cosmetics, mechanics and metallurgy, building materials, and consumer goods. When the revolutionary government took over, at first, only 38/94 factories and enterprises was under operation.

However, the process of forming and developing Bien Hoa Industrial Park (later Bien Hoa Industrial Park 1) has set up the foundation for its future strong industrial development of Dong Nai province, especially since the implementation of new open-door policy. In 1990, Dong Nai province established Bien Hoa Industrial Park Development Company (Sonadezi). The company has eagerly invested capital, embellished and upgraded infrastructure, called for foreign investment and bringing Bien Hoa 1 industrial park to a new stage of development.

Cao Tien Dung, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dong Nai province, shared that in the coming time, Dong Nai will focus on speeding up relocation of businesses and households to the Bien Hoa 1 industrial zone to achieve the goal of upgrading this place to an urban, commercial and service area to create a landscape space for Bien Hoa urban area.

However, due to rapid urbanization of Bien Hoa 1 industrial park, a variety of limitations are revealed as being located in a densely populated area of ​​Bien Hoa city and concurrently being likely to have adverse effects on Dong Nai water environment.

Therefore, more than 10 years ago, Dong Nai province had a policy and build a project to convert the function of Bien Hoa 1 industrial park into an urban – commercial – service area. In early 2021, the Prime Minister issued a written approval to remove Bien Hoa 1 industrial park from the development planning of Vietnam’s industrial zones.

New visage

Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park has been transformed into an area of ​​more than 327 hectares, divided into two areas. Bien Hoa 1 Urban – Trade – Service Project covering an area of ​​​​over 283 hectares and the remaining 44 hectares will be the administrative center of Dong Nai province.

Mr. Cao Tien Dung Provincial People’s Committee said that, in addition to the goal of protecting Dong Nai river water environment, the conversion of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park’s functions will also help expand the urban development space of Bien Hoa City, which is already really limited. By transforming the function of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park into an urban – commercial – service area, Dong Nai province is expected to change visage of Bien Hoa City and the administrative center of Dong Nai province.

Dong Nai Provincial People’s Committee also assigned functional agencies to research and propose investment forms, of which three options have been nominated including: Auction of land use rights, bidding for selection of investors using the entire land of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park and bidding for selection of project investors using the entire land of Bien Hoa Industrial Park 1 subsequent to the  auction of land use rights in clean land areas.

Chairman Cao Tien Dung said that the Provincial People’s Committee will opt to auction land use rights to implement the Bien Hoa 1 urban – commercial – service project, and submit it to the Standing Board of the Provincial Party Committee for consideration, for which the “rolling auction” will be adopted for each area. Investment in the construction of a technical infrastructure system will be carried out in the form of public investment.

Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park currently has 154 enterprises, including 20 foreign-invested enterprises, operating in various fields such as machinery manufacturing, building materials, and food. Besides, about 200 households  are residing  in the area under the project.  Chairman Cao Tien Dung said that the province is working with businesses, all of whom have agreed to the factory relocaton. Therefore, the province’s policy is to provide adequate compensation and support. At the same time, the province has assigned the investor to come up with a policy to support workers to best facilitate the relocation of all businesses.

Source: Tienphong.vn