Meeting with VSIP Group leadership

On the afternoon of June 14, 2023, Secretary of Can Tho City Party Committee Nguyen Van Hieu and leaders of the City People's Committee and representatives of relevant departments and agencies had a meeting with Mr. Kelvin Teo, CEO of Sembcorp Development, Co-Chairman of VSIP Group on "Vinh Thanh Industrial Park Infrastructure Investment and Construction Project" (VSIP Can Tho).

VSIP Can Tho project is being urgently implemented by relevant units, but there are still a number of slow-moving items such as: environmental impact assessment reports, submission of compensation funding, and procedures for investment and construction of a resettlement area, etc.

At the meeting, Mr. Kelvin Teo said that it was always hard to start a real estate project; however, with the close cooperation between VSIP Group and the locality, the VSIP Can Tho project gradually removed the difficulties to implement on schedule committed to customers and investors. Through the discussion with major customers in Japan, Korea, Europe, who are interested in investing in VSIP Can Tho, most of them want to have land and infrastructure in the third quarter of 2024.

At the same time, Mr. Kelvin Teo also asked the Party Secretary for his advice and suggestion on the priority industry so that VSIP Group could assist in finding suitable investors.

In response, Secretary of Can Tho City Party Committee Nguyen Van Hieu said that VSIP Can Tho project is the first large-scale industrial park project of the Mekong Delta. Currently, the project is unanimously supported by the local communities and the remaining difficulties are legal factors, cost of site clearance, searching for sand mines for leveling.

The Party Secretary expected VSIP Group to work closely with the locality to remove difficulties, make reasonable recommendations and proposals to ministries and branches to implement VSIP Can Tho project. The City has directed departments and sectors to coordinate with VSIP Group to carry out compensation, site clearance, resettlement, construction of roads, and land allocation for investors to deploy the project in the second quarter or third quarter of 2024.

Commenting that Vinh Thanh Industrial Park plays an important role for Can Tho and the Mekong Delta region, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu said that Can Tho has abundant human resources from itself and the neighboring provinces, but currently, the labor force is working mainly for southeastern provinces.  If VSIP Can Tho comes into operation, it will retain workers in their own land.

Can Tho is also a center of education and training, attracting many students from the region, especially high-quality human resources. This is the city's advantage when developing an ecosystem of industrial parks.

In addition, the Secretary of Can Tho City Party Committee said that the city is entering the final stage of completing the Can Tho city planning project integrating socio-economic with land use planning. This plan is expected to be submitted to the City People's Council in July 2023, and then reported to the Government. By August - September 2023, the approved integrated planning will be the legal basis for socio-economic planning and land use along the transport development axes, creating room for industrial park development.

Can Tho is a locality that develops industrial parks after other provinces and cities, so Can Tho wishes to attract investors in green, smart and sustainable industries. Because the Mekong Delta in general and Can Tho in particular is the capital of agricultural development, the national rice hub, it is very important to keep the environment clean for the development of high-tech agriculture.

Among priority sectors for the industrial park, Can Tho would like VSIP Group to call for investment in agro-fishery processing. In addition, the city also has a need to call for investors in logistics, warehouses for processing agricultural - aquatic products for export, etc.

Sharing the same view with Can Tho leaders in investor selection, Mr. Kelvin Teo said that VSIP Group is not just commercial activities, but it started with the mission to strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and Singapore. Therefore, VSIP Group will call for high-quality Singaporean investors to invest in VSIP Can Tho. The Group wants Can Tho to prioritize the implementation of the VSIP project and is committed to complying with legal regulations.

On October 17, 2022, the Prime Minister decided to approve the investment policy "Investment project for construction and infrastructure business of Vinh Thanh Industrial Park (phase 1)" with an area of ​​293.7 hectares in Vinh Trinh commune, Vinh Thanh district. The project is expected to become a food processing and distribution center, developing a large infrastructure of the Mekong Delta region, contributing to restructuring and promoting socio-economic development of Can Tho.