Bac Lieu has done well to focus on shrimp farming and clean energy production because this has boosted the province’s economic standing, says Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam.
Speaking at an investment promotion conference held in the Mekong Delta province Monday, Dam said that 10 years ago, Bac Lieu was described as "one of the smallest students in a 63-strong class" (63 provinces and cities).
“Thanks to its right policy of promoting the local strengths of wind power and shrimp, Bac Lieu stands on par with many other localities nationwide,” he said.
The Deputy PM also praised Bac Lieu for choosing as five socioeconomic development pillars the sectors of: high-tech agriculture; industrial development associated with agriculture; renewable energy; tourism; and trade and high-quality services in combination with the marine economy.
“To make itself more attractive to investors, Bac Lieu must promptly remove difficulties for companies investing and doing business in the locality," he said.
Tran Phu Chien, chairman of the Hacom Holdings Investment JSC, said the firm has invested and put into operation the Hoa Binh 5 wind power project in Bac Lieu with a capacity of 200 megawatts. It is considering development of another 600 megawatts of wind power in the province and other localities, he added.
Despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19, Bac Lieu created favorable conditions for wind power investors to complete eight projects for commercial power generation, he said, adding that “this is a testament to the greatly improved investment environment of the province”.
Concurring with Chien, Tran Quoc Tuan, vice chairman of Vietnam-Australia Seafood Corporation, said Bac Lieu has all the conditions to become a shrimp “capital”. Therefore, his group has placed four of the 18 most important facilities in its production chain in the province.
Tuan also said that the company was building a shrimp processing factory for export in Bac Lieu. Once the factory became operational, the corporation will have a closed production chain of breed research, shrimp farming and processing right in the province.
Bac Lieu Chairman Pham Van Thieu said that with a focus on sustainable development, the province was calling for quality projects with high added value that will use modern technology and biotechnology, are environmentally friendly, and employ many local workers.
To date, the Mekong Delta province has attracted 184 projects, including 167 domestic ones with a total registered capital of over VND53 trillion ($2.14 billion) and 17 foreign-invested ones worth over $4.5 billion.
Apart from a 3,200-megawatt LNG project with estimated investment capital of over $4 billion, Bac Lieu hosts eight operational wind power projects with total capacity of nearly 470 megawatts, ranking it third in the country in attracting investment to this field.
The province hs also identified clean and renewable energy development as a focal task, Thieu said.
With shrimp farms accounting for nearly half of its total land area, Bac Lieu has set aquaculture as a development spearhead and high-tech agriculture as a nucleus as it progresses towards becoming a national hub for shrimp farming and processing, he added.
The province also gives priority to forming linkages in rice production and trade and improving farm produce quality in an effort to promote agriculture and rural development and better farmers’ lives, he added.
The investment conference was also marked by Bac Lieu granting investment plan approvals and certificates to seven investors for 13 projects with a total registered capital of nearly VND17 trillion ($686 million). It also invited investment for 195 other projects in various fields.
Olivier Langlet, CEO of Thailand headquartered Central Retail Group, which has just received an investment licence for its VND432 billion ($17.43 million), 25,000-square-meter GO! Bac Lieu trade centre, said it would include a supermarket, cinemas, restaurants, entertainment facilities, among others.
Praising the local investment environment, he said that his group will soon start construction to put the project into operation by the end of 2023, creating jobs for hundreds of local workers, as well as promoting the consumption of goods and agricultural products, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development in Bac Lieu and its vicinity.