Investors in the park will have to follow sustainable development criteria in their production process, officials said at a ceremony held in An Hoa Village, Trang Bang District
Covering more than 1,000ha, the 3 trillion VND industrial park, which borders the Vam Co Dong River off the TransAsia Highway, will play an important role in connecting resources of the transAsian economy comprising Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam and China.
Nguyen Van Nen, head of the Tay Ninh People’s Committee, praised the Bourbon An Hoa Joint Stock Company for speedy implementation of land clearance and infrastructure building. The company had moved more than 1,400 households in the area in just seven months, he noted.
"I hope this will be the model of ecological industrial parks for those who want to build similar parks in Viet Nam later," Nen said.
Such parks were needed because the world was facing an ecological crisis with increasing global warming, air pollution, water and land poisoning. The park is the first stable step for developing this kind of industrial green zone in Viet Nam, he said.
The new park is strategically located for transporting goods to HCM City and for export to Cambodia and the wider region. It is located just 23km away from the Moc Bai border with Cambodia.
The Vam Co Dong River can welcome 3,000DWT vessels, facilitating waterway transportation to Sai Gon Port and Bourbon Port in Long An Province’s Ben Luc District.
While pursuing economic benefits, factories in the park will follow environmentally-friendly natural resource management principles.
Jacques de Chateauvieux, chairman of Bourbon’s board of directors, said that when the industrial park begins operations, it will give priority to and create the best conditions for local and foreign enterprises to invest in the park.
He also thanked Tran Thi My Dieu and Nguyen Trung Viet, scientists at HCM City’s Van Lang University for developing their "industrial ecology zone: basic concept" which has been applied in the park
Investors will be required to use 30 per cent of their land to plant trees, ensuring that the park will have green carpet cover of up to 35 per cent.
The park will be built over 10 years in two phases. The first phase covering 380ha will be completed in five years. This involves building a resettlement block, a wastewater treatment plant, a power supply station, a part of warehouse facilities.
The remaining infrastructure and facilities will be built in the second phase.