Industry Promoting Its Leading Role

 

According to the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Department of Industry and Trade, the province is now home to 275 industrial projects, including 204 projects in industrial parks with a combined registered capital of nearly US$13 billion and 71 projects outside industrial parks with a total registered capital of US$1.6 billion. The attraction and implementation of industrial projects are in line with the planning set for the period prior to 2009 and created a high economic value for the province. Investment activities are increasingly active in recent years.

 

Since 2007, the province attracted 100 industrial projects, accounting for more than a third of total industrial projects in the locality so far. Most industrial projects help promote local potentialities and strengths like oil, gas and seaport. Many production projects not only contribute to the provincial development but the entire country. The Phu My power centre now accounts for nearly 40 % of the total power output annually. Phu My fertiliser plant also takes up for 40 % of nitrogenous fertiliser production in the country and, if imported fertilisers are included, the plant makes up 60 % of the domestic market share. Remarkably, wind towers, only found in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, have very high economic value and are environment-friendly products.

 

Industry is now the largest economic sector in the province as it made up over 60 % of the GDP. Except for a few old projects using backward machinery, most of projects invested after 1990 are using modern technologies to turn out high-quality products. The province is reportedly holding most advanced technologies in the country such as steel and cement. However, several industries are not developed as stated in the master plan. The steel industry is an example. Under the Vietnamese steel industry development plan in the 2007 - 2015 period, with vision to 2025, the province is allowed to attract two steel ingot projects and five steel laminating projects but the locality has housed five steel ingot projects and 11 steel laminating projects. The planned outputs are 1 million tonnes of steel ingots and 6 million tonnes of laminated steel per year but the actual outputs have amounted to 3.75 million tonnes and nearly 10 million tonnes per year, respectively.

 

According to the Department of Industry and Trade, the province needs more sharing from the central authorities to tune its industrial development to the master plan. Ba Ria - Vung Tau is a dynamic province in the southern economic zone. If it has good infrastructure development investment, it will grow very quickly in the coming years, with the industry being the backbone.

 

Although the economic structure of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province will considerably change in the following years, with more attention paid to service sectors, the industry is still the focus sector that brings in sustainable value for the province. Therefore, the industry needs more investment to acquire synchronous development and higher productivity.