Central Vietnam province Quang Nam motivates foreign firms to up investments

Several foreign-invested enterprises are planning to ramp up investments in the central province of Quang Nam in response to the local government’s efforts to build a favorable investment environment for them.

At a Thursday meeting with the provincial government, Steven Wolstenholme, president and CEO of Singapore-invested Hoi An South Development Ltd, pledged to pour an additional $1 billion into the company’s existing project over the next two years, contributing to establishing Quang Nam as a leading tourist destination in Vietnam.

He noted that the 1,000-hectare Hoiana Resort & Golf project, which commenced in 2016, has a total investment of $4 billion.

So far, the company has completed the seven-stage project’s first phase, covering 125 hectares and featuring four five-star hotels, a golf course, and a casino.

Between 2020 and August 2024, Hoiana attracted 510,000 visitors, 80% of whom were foreigners. The company contributed more than VND1 trillion ($39.58 million) to the local budget in 2022-2023; and VND396 billion ($15.68 million) in the first half of this year, accounting for 55% of total collections from foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Quang Nam.

The project has created 2,500 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs. Upon completion of the next phase, these numbers are expected to rise to 5,000 and 10,000, respectively.

At the same meeting, Pang Haowen, general director of China-invested Guoguang Electric (Vietnam) Company Limited, said his firm had invested $24 million in a plant at the Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc industrial park in 2019.

The four-hectare facility, operational in 2020, created a production value of $34 million in 2021, which is expected to increase to $150 million this year. It has an annual capacity of five million speakers per year, with a production value of $200-$300 million, Pang said, adding that the firm has so far paid $1.8 million in taxes to Vietnam.

The company has leased an additional 7.7 ha of land to construct a new factory covering 200,000 square meters. With this expansion, its production value is projected to exceed $600 million, and its workforce will increase from the current 2,000 to 10,000 employees, the executive added.

Pang further revealed that six of the company’s suppliers have relocated to Quang Nam to support its operations and promised to attract more suppliers to the province.

Le Van Dung, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, told the executives that Quang Nam is committed to creating the most favorable environment for overseas investors.

He added that the province is actively seeking investors for developing Ky Ha seaport and Chu Lai airport.

In the first nine months of this year, Quang Nam recorded 10 newly-registered foreign-invested projects totaling $134.85 million.

To date, it has licensed 201 FDI projects worth $6.36 billion in total. Singapore is the biggest foreign investor in Quang Nam with eight projects valued at $4.11 billion, followed by South Korea with $949 million, and China with $413 million.