From an agriculture-based province, Dong Nai province has turned itself into an industrial hub in the south thanks to its determination to persist the growth model shift to industry, according to local authorities.

 

With agriculture making up 57.5 percent and industry only 18.2 percent of the local economy in 1985, the figures have now become only 8 percent and 60 percent, respectively, while services make up 32 percent.

 

Vo Van Chanh, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai provincial People’s Committee, attributed this to the shift from extensive economic development aimed at providing jobs to workers and settle social issues in the province to the intensive growth focusing on the building of an intellectual-based economy.

 

Currently, the province see 32 operational industrial zones with an industrial production value 200 times higher than that in 1985, while the per capita income has risen 16-folds.

 

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, Dong Nai now is home to over 1,900 foreign direct investment projects with a combined capital of 34.1 billion USD from 45 countries and territories, mostly from the Republic of Korea, China’s Taiwan, Japan and Singapore.

 

The projects belong to different fields such as processing and manufacturing (84 percent of the total capital), agriculture (1.5 percent), trade and services (3.5 percent), and real estate (12 percent).

 

Representatives of the provincial Party Committee held that FDI projects are an important factor for the province to develop industrial zones and help push up the development of infrastructure, adding green production and selective investment attraction will be the focus for the local economy in the time to come.

 

In recent year, local authorities have said no to the labour-intensive projects having a risk of causing pollution, but prioritized those with high technology, intensive investment, and environment-friendly production.

 

Dong Nai Party Committee Secretary Nguy Phu Cuong warned of the risk of environmental pollution which often goes along with industrial production, affirming the stance that those projects with this risk will be resolutely rejected.

 

The development perception of pursuing economic growth at any cost has been shifted to the effective and sustainable growth, the official highlighted.-VNA