President Halimah visits Vietnam-S'pore industrial park

HANOI - Against the backdrop of rural fields in Bac Ninh province, some 23km east of Hanoi, is a 635ha industrial park with clean streets that are lined with trees and structures that resemble the supertrees of Singapore's Gardens by the Bay.

This Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) is one of 11 such industrial parks in the country.

This outpost in Bac Ninh province alone, which combines residential and manufacturing industrial land for international companies, has, since its opening in 2007, attracted 125 companies, which have poured in a combined US$2.5 billion (S$3.5 billion) in investments and created 40,000 jobs.

On Tuesday, Singapore President Halimah Yacob toured the facility, which is about half the size of Singapore's Hougang town, as part of her five-day state visit to Vietnam.

The first VSIP was opened in 1996 in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Duong.

On Monday, Sembcorp was given the investment licence for a 12th VSIP in Can Tho City, about 165km from Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr Kelvin Teo, chief executive of Sembcorp Development, which runs the VSIPs, believes the success of the plants is largely owing to Singapore's international reputation as a reliable business partner.

Speaking to the media at the industrial park in Bac Ninh on Tuesday, he said: "One of the critical success factors is because international players understand this is driven by a Singapore company and we provide transparency, reliability and efficiency. I strongly think that Singapore companies provide that assurance."

At the industrial park, some of the houses appeared vacant. The clean and empty streets were a stark contrast to the dusty, busy streets just beyond the boundaries of the VSIP.

Addressing this, Mr Teo said Covid-19 had caused delays in the construction of the manufacturing factories and residents moving into the houses.

But all the industrial land for manufacturing in the four VSIPs in northern Vietnam has been sold, he added.

The 11 VSIPs in northern, central and southern Vietnam, commonly referred to as icons of Singapore's bilateral partnership with Vietnam, have attracted a total of US$17 billion in investments and created over 300,000 jobs.

Mr Teo said that visits by Singapore's leaders were another source of reassurance to companies that the VSIPs have strong government support.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, Madam Halimah shared a photo of her visit to the VSIP and said she met Hanoi party secretary Dinh Tien Dung prior to the industrial park visit to discuss the city's efforts to conserve its heritage even as it is being developed.

She will be in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, the fourth day of her visit, where she will be meeting local leaders, businessmen and Singaporeans.