Can Tho city to speed up resettlement for VSIP industrial park construction

Party chief of Can Tho city, Nguyen Van Hieu, has requested municipal authorities to expedite works related to the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) including construction of resettlement areas for impacted households.

Hieu made the call Monday while reviewing the progress of the project. He was told that the municipality has so far issued land clearance orders for 541 out of 550 households impacted by the project, covering 293 out of 293.7 hectares for the industrial park.

Construction of resettlement housing is set to start in November, city authorities said.

So far, the project has received 30.87 hectares of land from 60 households, including 10.14 hectares for the ground breaking ceremony. Vinh Thach district, where the IP is located, is building three roads connecting to the industrial park as well as temporary roads to the ceremony site.

Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries received an investment license in October 2022 to develop the new VSIP in Can Tho city, its first in the Mekong Delta.

The 293.7-hectare IP, with an investment of VND3.72 trillion ($158.55 million), will be operated by the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) Group, a joint venture between Sembcorp and Becamex, a major Vietnamese industrial developer.

In June, Hieu met with Sembcorp CEO Kelvin Teo to review the progress of the project as well as organizing the ground breaking ceremony as an activity to commemorate 50 years of Vietnam-Singapore diplomatic relations (1973-2023) and 10 years of Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership (2013-2023).

Hieu said he expected the industrial park to attract investments that are clean, green and sustainable. He also hoped that the IP would welcome its first investments in the second or third quarter of 2024.

Can Tho Chairman Tran Viet Truong attended a working session last month to check the progress of the project. He was informed that 80% of site clearance was set for completion by end-August and 100% by the end of September. This would allow construction to commence late August, Truong heard.

Sembcorp entered Vietnam in 1996 with the first VSIP in the southern province of Binh Duong. The group has since developed 12 industrial parks in Vietnam. The IPs are located in Bac Ninh, Hai Phong and Hai Duong in the north; Nghe An, Quang Tri and Quang Ngai in the central region; and Binh Duong and Can Tho in the south.

When Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Singapore in February, Sembcorp Industries announced new collaborations in sustainable urban development in Vietnam by building five more VSIPs valued at approximately $1 billion. The parks will be smart and sustainable with low carbon footprints, Sembcorp said. They will also feature decarbonization solutions like rooftop solar systems, solar farms (where feasible), and green-certified buildings.