Project

The trend of green industrial parks in Vietnam

Published

13 hours ago

March 17, 2025

After nearly 30 years, industrial parks in Vietnam have made a major contribution to the country’s economic development. However, industrial parks have not paid much attention to green and sustainable development to reduce the negative impacts on the environment.

Green and sustainable development requires industrial parks to take measures to encourage the enterprises that they host to switch to clean, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient manufacturing.

But industrial parks across the country are still struggling with how to reach a balance between economic benefits and the environment due to numerous obstacles.

Identifying bottlenecks

Industrial parks are playing an important role in diversifying investment in infrastructure development, manufacturing, and business, and are attractive destinations for both domestic and foreign investors.

Green, clean and ecological industrial parks are an inevitable trend around the globe. The development of sustainable industrial parks commences from industrial ecology and the transition from the linear economic model to the circular economy, in which the waste and byproducts of an enterprise become the inputs for another one’s production process.

These are urgent and mandatory requirements for the manufacturing sector to develop sustainably, helping to realise Vietnam’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050. To meet these requirements, the government and enterprises need to join hands since financial resources and regulations are the current bottlenecks to the transition.

Tran Thi To Loan, Deputy Director of Sao Do Investment Group, owner of Hai Phong-based Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, said cost is the biggest hurdle to the transition from conventional industrial parks to sustainable ones. She noted that the two models are fundamentally different in terms of approach, goal, and environmental and social impacts; one only focuses on maximising profits and economic growth with a low spending on the environment, while the other is designed and managed with the combined goals of economic development, environmental protection, and social responsibility.

A green, ecological and sustainable industrial park requires synchronous investment from the start with a huge cost. But most industrial parks in Vietnam are developed in a rolling process, so they are not truly environmentally friendly and resource-saving.

Legal bottlenecks and unclear regulations also make it difficult for changing the model of industrial parks in Vietnam. Loan stated that if regulations are not specified, it is difficult to encourage enterprises to change.

Associate Professor Nguyen Quang Tuyen from the Hanoi Law University shared the same view that the current legal network lacks specific regulations on developing sustainable industrial parks. In addition, there are too many laws governing the operation of industrial parks, which also discourages many enterprises.

Prioritising green and ecological industrial parks

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Nguyen Quang Vinh said building sustainable industrial parks will bring many substantial benefits, not only economic, but also environmental and social.

Specifically, it will reduce the environmental impact, save energy and resources, increase innovation and cooperation, enhance reputation and brand image, create a better working environment in industrial parks, and offer many benefits to the community.

However, enterprises’ awareness about this matter remains weak, with up to 50% of surveyed enterprises in industrial parks having responded that they have not heard about the idea of sustainable and ecological industrial parks. Therefore, the government should soon introduce measures to address obstacles and facilitate industrial parks in their transition.

For enterprises, investing in sustainable development requires huge financial resources but it should not be the reason for them to stay outside the trend. With about 418 established industrial parks, 298 of which have been put into operation covering a total of 92,200 hectares, Vietnam is assessed to have much room for developing green, ecological, and sustainable industrial parks.

The transition to the green and ecological industrial park model also helps attract a new wave of investment, especially high-quality foreign direct investment. Therefore, first of all, investors of industrial parks need to get updated on the government’s orientation to understand the benefits of changing the model in order to proactively build a roadmap for green and ecological industrial parks.

Enterprises in industrial parks need to focus on changing their production methods to maximise resources and make their production cleaner, apply technology solutions that use less carbon and chemicals, and use renewable and environmentally friendly energy to reduce operating costs and enhance competitiveness.

Afterwards, enterprises need to step up mobilising resources from international organisations, trade associations, climate finance funds, energy transition partners as well as commercial banks and green finance organisations to develop green industrial parks. They should also work together to share production infrastructure and reuse production materials, or work with third-party enterprises outside industrial parks in realising industrial symbiosis connections.

Associate Professor Nguyen Dinh Tho from the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment shared that it is necessary to plug the legal loopholes and remove the bottlenecks to the industrial park transition process, in which specific institutions should be introduced as the basis for enterprises to implement and operate. More importantly, the government needs to supplement preferential policies on land, finance, corporate income tax, land rents, and credit access in the process of changing the production model from “brown” to “green”.

Project

E-tax system resumes full operations after temporary suspension

Published

38 minutes ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

The suspension, which lasted from 5pm on March 12 until 8am on March 17, was necessary to enhance tax management and implement structural changes.

E-tax system resumes full operations after temporary suspension

The tax authority has stated that all systems are now running smoothly, ensuring seamless tax transactions for individuals, businesses and foreign entities. (Photo: baodautu.vn)

Hanoi – Vietnam’s electronic tax system has resumed full operations starting at 8am on March 17, after a temporary suspension for system upgrades and data restructuring, the tax authority announced.

The suspension, which lasted from 5pm on March 12 until 8am on March 17, was necessary to enhance tax management and implement structural changes.

During this period, certain services such as electronic tax payment (eTax), eTax Mobile and tax applications for individuals were temporarily halted, while other functions remained accessible.

Foreign businesses operating in Vietnam can now fully access the e-portal for foreign suppliers, which remained operational but may have experienced minor delays in processing transactions during the upgrade.

Director of the Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh instructed tax departments to ensure secure data migration and a smooth transition, allowing businesses and individuals to resume using the e-tax system without disruption.

Project

Central Vietnam province aims to add 2,300 MW of wind power to development plan

Published

2 hours ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

Vietnam’s central province of Quang Tri plans to add 1,800 MW of 43 land-based wind power projects and 500 MW of offshore wind power to the draft implementation scheme of the national power development plan VIII (PDP VIII).

The draft scheme also features 260.5 MW of hydropower, 119.6 MW of solar power, and 23 MW of rooftop solar power for self-consumption, Quang Tri authorities discussed last week.

Quang Tri's acting Chairman Ha Sy Dong (standing) speaks at a meeting in the province, central Vietnam, March 14, 2025. Photo courtesy of Quang Tri newspaper. — Quang Tri’s acting Chairman Ha Sy Dong (standing) speaks at a meeting in the province, central Vietnam, March 14, 2025. Photo courtesy of Quang Tri newspaper.

Until 2030, Quang Tri aims to facilitate power import of 2,000 MW from Laos.

Provincial authorities will also facilitate investors of 500 kV, 200 kV, and 100 kV power grid projects, in line with the deployment of wind, solar, gas-fired power, and imported power (from Laos) projects.

Addressing the meeting, Quang Tri’s acting Chairman Ha Sy Dong asked the Department of Industry and Trade to collaborate with investors to complete the applications for in-principle approval by March 20.

He also requested the Department of Finance to finalize the land recovery plan for site clearance by March 25.

Vietnam’s current PDP VIII has 6,000 MW of offshore wind power, including 500 MW in the central-central region.

In February 2025, Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed delaying the development of offshore wind power until after 2030, instead of meeting the initial target of 6,000 MW by 2030.

However, in March 2025, the Government requested that offshore wind power projects under the PDP VIII must complete by 2030.

Project

Manufacturing, processing push up industrial growth in five months

Published

4 hours ago

March 17, 2025

Industrialzone.net

Vietnam’s industrial sector experienced positive growth in the January-May period, with 55 out of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide reporting annual increases in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The GSO identified manufacturing, processing, and electricity production and distribution as the primary drivers of the growth. Provinces recording high growth included Phu Tho (31.2%), Bac Giang (24.9%), and Binh Phuoc (14.8%). However, some other provinces like Ha Tinh, Quang Ngai and Ca Mau saw respective declines of 9%, 8.25% and 2.5% in their indexes.

Overall, the national IIP in May continued its upward trajectory, rising 3.9% month-on-month and 8.9% year-on-year. The five-month period saw an yearly increase of 6.8%.

A deeper analysis revealed the processing and manufacturing industries as the key contributor to the growth, boasting a 7.3% rise and adding 6.4 percentage points to the overall increase. The electricity production and distribution sector also performed strongly, with 12.7% growth, contributing 1.1 percentage points. Additionally, the water supply, waste, and wastewater management sector went up 6.3%, adding 0.1 percentage point. However, the mining sector experienced a decline of 5.2%, resulting in a reduction of 0.8 percentage point in the overall growth.

Specific product categories within the processing and manufacturing sectors posted impressive growth. Production of rubber and plastic products surged by 27.4%, while electrical equipment saw a 24% increase. Production of chemicals and chemical products grew by 20.1%, followed by beds, cabinets, tables, and chairs (19.6%) and metal products (13.2%).

In light of these findings, the GSO proposed a series of recommendations to further bolster Vietnam’s industrial development. It urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to prioritise a structural shift toward increasing the proportion of processing and manufacturing industries within the overall industrial sector, while simultaneously reducing reliance on the assembly and processing of imported products; enhance enterprise competitiveness and incentivise the use of domestically produced goods via technical barriers for certain imports.

Additionally, the GSO recommended that the MoIT refine key institutions such as the Key Industrial Law and the Law on Chemicals. Expediting the disbursement of public investment capital and hastening crucial projects in the fields of electricity, oil and gas, manufacturing, processing, and mining are also highlighted as crucial steps.

Head of the GSO’s Industrial and Construction Statistics Department Phi Thi Huong Nga suggested that localities should launch more stimulus and promotion schemes to increase purchasing power while helping industrial firms find partners and expand markets through trade exhibitions.