Amata Development Projects Booming in Vietnam

Amata Corporation was established in 1989 and listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 1997. Its clientele include such names as Sumitomo Rubber, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing, Canadoil, Triumph Motorcycles, BMW, Daikin, Sony Mobile, Pepsi-Cola, Bridgestone, Toyota, Colgate Palmolive, Kao, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Elevator, Hino Motors and many more. Dozens of the most dynamic Thai manufacturers also make their home at Amata industrial parks.

 

Amata IPs have been known for going beyond the basics. Amata IPs offer a high quality, full service approach. It helps factories succeed by saving them time and money.

Anticipating that most foreign investors doing business in Vietnam would face many difficulties relating to infrastructure, electricity, transport, administrative procedures and tax policies, Amata Corporation came to Vietnam in 1992, looking for suitable locations to establish its development base, resulting the establishment of Amata (Vietnam).

 

Up to now, Amata (Vietnam) has two projects in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, namely Amata Industrial Park and Amata Commercial Complex. The major project, Amata Industrial Park, was established in 1994 with planned area of 700 hectares. So far, about 400 ha (2,500 rai or 1,000 acres) of land in the park has been developed with outstanding infrastructure and utilities systems, making it well-known among the best industrial parks in Vietnam. For the past 15 years, the park has attracted about 110 investors from 19 countries and territories with a total investment capital of over US$1.5 billion to set up their factories in the developed area, creating a workforce of about 25,000 workers. When asked about the selling points of the park, Dr Huynh Ngoc Phien, President of Amata (Vietnam) said: “Amata Industrial Park is one of the top locations to place a factory. Soil conditions are better than in other parks that require extensive and expensive pilling work. Another benefit is that roads and infrastructure are built to quality levels much higher than most similar parks in Vietnam. In addition, due to its close proximity with Bien Hoa City, it is easy to recruit trained workers and ensure proper housing and other support.”

 

The second project, Amata Commercial Complex, will add a shopping centre together with office buildings, villas, high-rise apartments and lifestyle facilities to meet the growing demand of Bien Hoa City and its vicinity. The development of this project is under way with the five-storey office building, called Amata Service Centre, to be accomplished by the end of 2010. So far, this project has attracted one local investor to build a Honda Car showroom on an area of more than 8,000 square meters. Several potential partners have been approached for the development of the components (sub-projects) in the Master Plan which has been revised recently by Surbana of Singapore.

 

A very important project is being planned, with the development of a new High-tech township near Long Thanh International Airport.

 

Having Dong Nai province as the development base, Amata (Vietnam) provides an additional advantage: it is close to Southern seaports including Saigon Port and Cat Lai Port, where cargos can be directly transported to the US without trans-shipping via container terminals in Singapore or Hong Kong. Moreover, the close proximity of key transportation facilities combined with the low operating costs and enthusiastic and well-trained workforce makes Amata the best location for business.

 

The presence of Amata in Dong Nai province has played an important role of the socio-economic development of the province. Amata Industrial Park has contributed significantly to the economic growth of the province thanks to its attraction of foreign investors and its job creation. Amata Commercial Complex, in turn, will contribute to the modernization and expansion of Bien Hoa City, thus contributing to the expansion of the service sector in the provincial economic structure. “It is our job to continuously improve the systems and services to the best possible levels for investors doing business without any worry,” added Dr Phien.

 

In recent decades, environmental pollution has become one of the world’s major problems caused by human activities. It is not only a common occurrence in developed countries, but also developing countries—and Vietnam is no exception. For years, Vietnam has been facing environmental issues, and many projects that threaten environmental protection have been identified.

 

According to Mr Huey Douglas Pham, vice president and country manager for CDM in Vietnam, it is possible and beneficial to execute development solutions that do not harm the environment.

 

Since being established in Vietnam since 1998, CDM—a global consulting, engineering, and construction firm—has been implementing a number of environmental protection projects in Vietnam, helping to raise awareness of environmental issues within Vietnamese society.

 

“Compared to 10 years ago, Vietnamese people are more aware of the impacts that their actions may have on their living environment. It is a very good sign. Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal is one noticeable improvement. It not only reflects our efforts to improve the canal bed and surrounding areas, but also to increase awareness about environmental protection,” said Huey Douglas Pham.

 

In the past several years, CDM has implemented nearly 20 projects in Vietnam, for both the government and for private industries. The Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal environmental sanitation project in HCM City is one of CDM’s most important projects in Vietnam. Funded by the World Bank, this project is intended to address flooding and water pollution in seven districts and 60 wards located alongside the canal. Also, CDM was the consultant for the Thu Duc water supply plant, which has a designed capacity of 300,000 cubic meters of clean water per day through a system of 26 kilometres of pipeline merging with the system of the Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco).

 

Mr Robert Lawson Hurdle, CDM senior vice president, said: “We are proud of transferring our technology as well as our experience, solutions, and services to Vietnam. In regards to environment issues, I think that Vietnam has a very good set of laws. However, the country needs stronger enforcement for all industries. In terms of contractors, I have seen great progress through many projects, compared to 10 years ago.”

 

In addition to environmental projects, CDM is also involved with Vietnam’s transportation sector. The firm is now supporting the transit growth in HCMC through a railway project from Ben Thanh market in the centre area, crossing Saigon River on an elevated track, and ending at Suoi Tien Park.

 

In alignment with Vietnam’s global integration as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), CDM’s expertise, innovative solutions, and services will continue to be an essential part of socio-economic development in the country—especially for environment and infrastructure improvement.

Despite the ongoing downturn that started in 2008 due to the global financial crisis, Vietnam’s FDI attraction remained positive. Some foreign investors have been returning to Vietnam while some are exploring new business opportunities. According to Mr Matthew Greenfield, Director of East West Industries (US), Vietnam has many advantages in investment attraction in comparison to other countries in the region.

 

One of the available advantages that hastened East West Industries (EWI) to build a production factory in Vietnam in 2008 is low labour cost. Mr Greenfield said that Vietnam boasts a young, dynamic work force, stable exchange rate and comparable freight costs, plus efforts made by the Government to improve the investment environment. These make Vietnam an ideal business destination in the region.

 

EWI is a 100% USA owned company that has been successful in many countries in the world. East West Industries specializes in manufacturing high quality plastic, metal, rubber and electro-mechanical products. In addition, EWI has full turn-key capability to develop and produce UL, CE, and ETL listed products. Since its inception in 2001, the global group led parent company East West Manufacturing has rapidly grown to become a leader in domestic offshore manufacturing, with offices and production facilities in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as China and Vietnam. In 2008, EWI expanded its production activities in VSIP II, Binh Duong. 95% of its products are exported to its mother company in the USA; the rest are for European and local markets.

 

With a factory located in Binh Duong, EWI Vietnam became the latest link in the East West Manufacturing USA global contract manufacturing supply-chain. EWI provides full development and production support with a variety of in-house capabilities including plastic injection molding, electro-mechanical assembly and packaging. This is supplemented with East West’s proven ability to source and develop competitively priced, high-quality components from around Asia for use in products.

 

However, Matthew also expressed worry about supporting industries in Vietnam. “Many basic raw materials, as well as higher value components for production, must be imported from overseas. We have a policy of localization, but it is not always possible to find a material supplier in Vietnam.” So, EWI is making efforts to localize raw material sources in the future.