The hi-tech factory, which will come at a price tag of $95 million, will cover 14.4 ha in the province’s Quang Chau Industrial Zone. Construction on the factory is expected to start this September and is scheduled to be finished in April 2009. Once it’s finished, the factory should create 12,000 jobs in the region.

Nobuo Nagata, general manager of Sanyo’s Chinese subsidiary, said that the company decided to invest in Bac Giang Province because of its advantageous location close to China (where Sanyo already has a subsidiary), abundant available labor and efforts by provincial authorities to streamline administrative procedures. He said he hoped the project success would encourage more Japanese enterprises to invest in the province.

During the licensing ceremony Thursday, Bac Giang People’s Committee chairman Nguyen Dang Khoa vowed that local authorities would create favourable conditions for the Japanese investor to implement the project as scheduled. The chairman said that Bac Giang Province had been working hard to attract foreign direct investment, especially from Japanese enterprises.

The province plans to organize a trip for local businesses to Japan to seek trade and investment opportunities. Established in 1947, Sanyo Electric Co has 205 subsidiaries and 70 joint-ventures world-wide. (Viet Nam News)