Hanoi (VNA) – Northern Hai Phong city and HaiDuong province have welcomed big high-tech foreign direct investment (FDI)projects this month, with a combined investment of over 850 million USD.

The Hai Phong People’s Committee recently licensed a 500million USD increase in FDI into an organic light emitting diode (OLED) displayproduction and outsourcing project by the Republic of Korea’s (RoK) LG DisplayCo. Ltd.

The project, which was initially worth 1.59 billion USD,received approval to be built on a 54ha site at the Trang Due Industrial Zonein Hai Phong in April, 2016. It included the construction of a factory producingOLED panels for TVs, mobile phones, smart watches, and tablets; as well as 13residential buildings that can accommodate up to 12,000 workers at theindustrial park.

Put into operation last year, the project is LG Display’sfirst OLED display production site situated outside the RoK territory. Most of itsproducts are targeted towards the world market, with around 20 percent ofoutput serving domestic consumption.

Similarly, 312 million USD was also added to theproduction of robotics, automatic parts, and controlling devices by Japan’s RorzeRobotech Co., Ltd. at the Nomura Industrial Park in the northern port city. Theextra funding brought the total FDI injection into the project to 738 millionUSD. The factory has a designed capacity of 210,000 robotic parts and 30,500controlling devices per year.

So far, a total of more than 800 million USD in FDIlanded in Hai Phong this October. During the first nine months of 2018, thecity’s FDI attraction exceeded 1.45 billion USD, almost doubling the figureyear-on-year.

The injected FDI was not only used towards developingprojects, but also as a huge boom to domestic investment, fostering theexpansion of investment in infrastructure, services, support industries, andlogistics; as well as the effective use of local resources like land, factories,and machines, said Pham Van Moi, head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority(HEZA).

According to Moi, Hai Phong has attracted a number of biginternational corporations such as Bridgestone, LG, Kyocera, Fuji Xerox, NipponPharma, and GE.

The remaining FDI has gone into projects inmanufacturing, infrastructure, real estate, trade, and services. GeneralDirector of Dinh Vu Indistrial Zone JSC in Hai Phong Frank Wouters said thatimproved infrastructure – what with the expansion of Cat Bi InternationalAirport and the launch of the Lach Huyen International Gateway Port, the Hanoi-HaiPhong Expressway, and the Tan Vu-Lach Huyen Highway and Bridge – has been amajor magnet to woo more foreign investors and bigger projects to the portcity.

Previously, annual FDI injection into Hai Phong stoodbelow 500 million USD. However, in recent years, the city has seen stronger FDIinflows, hitting approximately 3 billion USD in 2016, said Moi. The cityexpects to welcome over 2 billion USD in FDI this year, he added.

Meanwhile, in Hai Duong, Japan’s Hitachi Cable Vietnamhas invested an extra 900 billion VND (38.4 million USD) into expanding itscable production facility at the Tan Truong Industrial Park. The 10ha projectstarted in 2008 with an initial funding of more than 435 billion VND (18.56million USD). To date, its total investment has been raised to over 1.78trillion VND (76 million USD).

Several other FDI projects in Hai Duong have alsoreceived additional funding. They include a factory manufacturing automobile intelligentelectronic components by Kefico Vietnam Co., Ltd., a member of the RoK’s HyundaiGroup, which received an extra 120 million USD in FDI; and the production baseof Sumidenso Vietnam, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Wiring Systems Japan, whichengages in producing wire harnesses and electric wires used for the electronicsand automotive industry.

In the first three quarters of this year, the provincehas raked in 522 million USD in FDI.–VNA