Footwear investors stepping up game in Vietnam The Nam Dinh Department of Planning and Investment has recently granted an investment certificate for Hong Kong-based Bunda Footwear Company Limited to develop a $47.5 million footwear production factory in Nam Truc district, according to local media.   photo source: namtruc.namdinh.gov.vn The 30-hectare project’s construction is expected to start in September. The factory is expected to begin its test run sometime between August and September 2018 and officially come into operation in October 2018. Upon entering full operation, the factory will have an output of 15 million products per year and create between 10,000 and 12,000 jobs. According to Trieu Duc Hanh, Secretary of the Nam Truc District Party Committee, the project plays an important role in the district’s socio-economic development, making it imperative for the authority to support the investor in site clearance as well as deal with problems arising during the implementation process. The district will try to complete the site clearance and hand over the ground for the investor before June 30.  Bunda’s project is not the sole large-scale footwear production projects invested in Vietnam in the first five months of this year. On March 7, the Can Tho City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Management Authority licensed South Korean Taekwang Industrial to implement a $171 million shoe-manufacturing factory in 2B HungPhu Industrial Park in Cai Rang district of Can Tho. The factory covers an area of 62 hectares, 52 of which is reserved for the production area, while the remaining 10 is set aside as a service and commercial area and warehouses for lease. The factory’s construction is divided into three phases. The first phase’s construction is expected to be kicked off in 2016 and last until 2019, with the second and third phases to be finished by 2022 and 2025, respectively. The factory constructed during the first phase will start operation in the first quarter of 2017, while the second phase will be inaugurated in 2020, and the third phase in 2023.  Once the factory comes into operation, it will have a total capacity of 100 million products per year and create 30,000 jobs. ​By Ha Vy, VIR