HANOI: Amata VN PCL, a unit of Thailand’s biggest industrial estate developer Amata Corp PCL , expects a key green light from the Vietnamese government in the third quarter of this year to build a $500 million industrial park, an Amata executive said on Monday.
Amata may receive the investment certificate for the project in southern Dong Nai province in the third quarter and construction could start in the last three months of 2015, Senior Vice President Steven Siew said on the sidelines of an investment conference in Ho Chi Minh City.
The investment certificate is the last major step for Amata to secure clearance to go ahead with its Amata City Long Thanh industrial park and township complex. Its existing sole industrial park in Vietnam is also in Dong Nai.
Steven noted the park enjoys a location near the national highway, ports and a planned airport which will be the nation’s biggest.
The firm is also working on a $1.6 billion joint venture with Vietnam developer Tuan Chau to develop Amata City Ha Long, which once approved will increase Amata’s presence in Vietnam by 11 times in areas terms to a combined 7,700 hectare (77 square kilometres).
Amata’s parks in Vietnam will mainly host Japanese and Korean companies, including those which supply Samsung and LG Electronics, which have pledged billions of investments into the southeast Asian nation. Its existing customers include PepsiCo, Bayer and Toshiba.
Amata’s expansion in Vietnam is part of a strategy to take advantage of the ASEAN Economic Community due to form this year. Foreign investment in Vietnam has been surging recently, mostly thanks to relatively cheap labour costs, young population and government policies to attract overseas projects.
