Under an MOU with its Vietnamese partners, it will study the feasibility of building one in Quang Tri province

WITH seven industrial parks successfully up and running across Vietnam, the senior management at Sembcorp Development believes that the time is right to consider building an eighth. There are plans to conduct a feasibility study to see whether the country’s Quang Tri province can be a suitable site to house the next Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP).

Sembcorp Development’s chief executive officer Kelvin Teo said in Hanoi on Thursday: “We have to do our due diligence first to assess the commercial viability of this project. We also have to work together with our partners in Vietnam.” Mr Teo, who is also co-chairman of the VSIP board of management, added that, based on previous experience, it could take about a year or two to arrive at a decision and draw up a good masterplan.

“Our job is to promote investment and create employment, so that there is long-term sustainability for the project … We need to be very clear about what types of industries are suitable for Quang Tri. We have yet to study all this,” he said. Mr Teo was in the Vietnamese capital to sign a memorandum of understanding with Quang Tri Province People’s Committee chairman Nguyen Duc Chinh and Becamex IDC Corporation chairman Nguyen Van Hung.

The agreement brings together the different parties to explore the feasibility of developing the eighth VSIP in the province. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is on a four-day official visit to Vietnam, and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The VSIPs are developed as a joint venture between Vietnam’s state-owned enterprise Becamex IDC and a consortium of three Singapore companies.

This consortium is majority-led by Sembcorp Development, a fully-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries. The other partners are Mitsubishi Corporation Development Asia and KPM Vietnam Investment. The first VSIP in Binh Duong province celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. In total, the parks have attracted some US$9 billion in investments; the approximately 690 multinational companies there have created over 170,000 jobs.

Separately on Thursday, Sembcorp Development signed a deal with the People’s Committee of Da Nang on Thursday to look into whether a new software park could be developed in Da Nang. Mr Teo said such a project, centred on innovation and technology, would enable Vietnam to move up the value chain. “The skills level (at the software park) will be higher than at an industrial park. Da Nang is an area that we can explore. We will look at the site, and form a team to study it closer,” he said.

Also on Thursday, another Sembcorp unit, Sembcorp Utilities, inked an agreement to work with Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop the Dung Quat power plant in Quang Ngai province, in conjunction with the fifth Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. Two other agreements were signed in conjunction with Mr Lee’s visit. Keppel Land signed a deal with Vietnam’s State Capital Investment Corporation to collaborate on investment opportunities in Vietnam.

The Singapore International Foundation and the Vietnam-Singapore Friendship Association agreed to work together to promote social innovation and entrepreneurship, arts and cultural exchange, and volunteer cooperation.

Source: Business Times