Dong Nai industry in the race of green economy

​(E. Portal of Dong Nai) Over the years, Dong Nai has steadfastly focused on attracting investment selectively, developing the economy in association with environmental protection to step by step towards the development of green industry.

Garment production line in Amata Eco-Industrial Park

Dong Nai is one of the leading provinces and cities nationwide in implementing the ecological industrial park model according to the global trend with the goal of developing green industry.

Building an eco-industrial park model

Dong Nai is currently planned and has the largest number of operating industrial zones in the country. For many years now, the province has always been in the group of provinces and cities attracting good FDI capital thanks to the advantages of geography, infrastructure, investment environment and green industry development orientation of the province. By the end of 2022, the province had been attracted more than 1.5 thousand investment projects from 43 countries and territories around the world. In particular, many multinational corporations such as: Hyosung, Bosch, Amata, Fujitsu, Nestlé, Ajinomoto, Cargill ... had chosen Dong Nai as a destination, then successfully opened more factories in many other provinces and cities.

Deputy Head in charged of Dong Nai Industrial Parks Authority Pham Van Cuong said: “For many years, the province has attracted selective investment and projects meeting the criteria of using modern and environmentally friendly technology. Along with that, the Authority supports enterprises to convert technology to improve production efficiency, save costs and protect the environment.

For business units of industrial park infrastructure, the province requires to ensure the minimum green area. Expand and upgrade the wastewater treatment system according to the needs of enterprises. Every year, Dong Nai Industrial Parks Authority supervises the collection and treatment of wastewater and urges and reminds investment in items to protect and prevent environmental incidents. Up to now, 31 operating industrial zones have centralized wastewater treatment systems. Currently, the province is also piloting the building of a model of Amata ecological industrial zone (Bien Hoa city). Accordingly, the criteria for technical infrastructure, production, resource use and utility services are gradually improved according to ecological criteria. In the coming time, this model will be deployed and replicated to existing and new industrial zones in the future.

Mr. Dinh Manh Thang, senior expert of Vietnam Cleaner Production Center (VNCPC) commented: “Internally, Amata Industrial Park has formed many ecologically symbiotic services. For example, collecting waste plastic from enterprises for recycling at Vo Song Plastic Co., Ltd; collect iron and steel scrap from companies for recycling at Pro-vision Special Steel Joint Stock Company; using wastewater after the RO filtration system of Oc Dao Xanh Pure Water Joint Stock Company to water some neighboring companies".

Enterprises need to strengthen exchanges and link to use common services such as: labor training, industrial maintenance, waste collection, construction of houses for workers ... both to save costs and increase area for businesses and employees.

Plastic packaging production at Visual Plastic Joint Stock Company (Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Park, Bien Hoa City)​​

Need perfect and stable legal

According to experts, one of the concerns of investors is the lack of stable and transparent policies. Experts explained that in addition to the law in Vietnam, there were circulars and decrees, but related ministries and branches were slow to issue guiding documents and did not have direct support tools, leading to difficulties in implement.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, deputy head of the Division of Natural Resources and Environment, Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority, there are still shortcomings between laws and laws and between laws and decrees. For example, regarding the mechanism to encourage waste reuse, there are currently no guidelines for the reuse of waste, especially the reuse of industrial wastewater for purposes: watering plants, industrial production...

Similarly, for the development of renewable energy, many businesses are "giving up" because of complicated processes and procedures. Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Thai Thanh Phong commented, Dong Nai had the advantage of rooftop solar power but facing difficulties in developing this energy source. Specifically, rooftop solar energy projects must ensure electrical safety, construction safety, environment, and fire prevention according to current regulations. There were still many difficulties and this was a big obstacle, missing opportunities for investors.

Vice Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Quan Minh Cuong said that when supervising the implementation of policies and laws on energy in the province, the province needed to identify specific problems and propose solutions perfecting the policies on energy development. The provincial National Assembly delegation would propose the National Assembly, the Government, ministries, departments and branches to amend policies to create favorable conditions for the development of energy projects.

Green industry development is an inevitable trend in the context that Vietnam is participating in deep integration. In order to develop green production, in addition to the efforts of enterprises, it is necessary to support policies such as: supplementing green standards and criteria in industrial production for easy implementation by enterprises; support in capital, tax, product output with pioneering enterprises in green production. Besides, consumers also have to be responsible for protecting the environment through the use of green products. With that, the goal of reducing net emissions to zero, building a new green economy soon becomes a reality.​