Need to promote the progress of Tri Le Industrial Park, creating development momentum for Western Nghe An

Great Expectations

Tri Le Industrial Park (IP) was approved by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee for detailed planning 1/500 in Decision No. 4419/QD-UBND dated October 29, 2019, with a total area of ​​106.95 hectares, bordering Lam River to the North and West, National Highway 7 to the South; and Tri Le IP planning road to the East.

As a multi-industry, multi-profession industrial park, according to the plan, this industrial park will reserve nearly 80 hectares for building industrial factories; 1.88 hectares for building administrative and service works; 2.82 hectares for building housing for workers; 2.8 hectares for building technical infrastructure and 10.91 hectares for green trees.

In addition, in the functional area of ​​Tri Le Industrial Park Project, there will be a water plant serving factories with a capacity of 4,000m³water/day and night, wastewater treatment plant 2,000m³/day and night.

After the 1/500 planning of Tri Le Industrial Park was approved, from the beginning of 2020, the Management BoardSoutheast Economic ZoneTogether with the People's Committee of Anh Son district at that time, they announced the planning and set up markers according to regulations.

Located in the potential land of Western Nghe An, right on Highway 7 and Ho Chi Minh Road, Tri Le Industrial Park was expected to become one of the "bright spots" of industrial development in the province. Because this is an area with abundant human resources, diverse and rich natural resources, notably unused land, agricultural and forestry products, raw materials for construction materials, mineral exploitation, and agricultural and forestry processing.

In fact, with these advantages, Tri Le Industrial Park is identified by Nghe An province as one of the key industrial parks, contributing to promoting economic restructuring in the Western Nghe An region. If operating effectively, this industrial park will not only bring in large revenues for the budget, but also create jobs for thousands of local workers, limiting the migration of workers to other localities.

However, after nearly a decade since its launch, the actual image of Tri Le Industrial Park is quite contrary to initial expectations. The infrastructure is not yet fully completed and especially the investment projects are behind schedule and constantly changing owners, causing this Industrial Park to fall into a "desolate" state.

The project is behind schedule

Among the projects expected to "breathe life" into Tri Le Industrial Park, the most prominent is the MDF Fiberboard Production Factory Project invested by MDF Nghe An Wood Joint Stock Company. This is considered the driving force project, with the largest scale in Western Nghe An, with a total initial investment capital of up to 2,827 billion VND. This project was approved for investment by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in Decision No. 555/QD-UBND dated February 14, 2017, with a design capacity of 180,000m³/year, which can be increased to 250,000m³/year when expanded.

The project is promised that once put into operation, it will contribute to increasing the planted forest area and forestry value for districts along Highway 7 - localities with rich potential for planted forest timber.

In addition, this project is also expected to create jobs for thousands of direct and indirect workers in the locality, increase the income of the community participating in the project activities and forest growers, and districts on National Highway 7A. At the same time, it can also lead to the formation of many supporting industries such as transportation, mechanics, chemicals, commercial services, etc., creating a positive spillover effect for the whole region.

However, contrary to expectations, after starting construction in April 2018, the project fell into a state of prolonged delays. After many years of implementation, this project has undergone many times of approval by the Provincial People's Committee to adjust the investment policy, but only a very small volume was completed, about more than 147 billion VND out of the initial total investment capital of 2,827 billion VND. As a result, the Tri Le Industrial Park space is still quiet, without a clear rebound.

Present at Tri Le Industrial Park recently, we noted that in the MDF Wood Fiberboard Factory Project area, some construction items, including: Security house, weighing station, weighing station house, executive office building, guest reception house, conference hall, dining room, shift rest house, garage, chipping and peeling factory, have been completed. Some items are still unfinished such as: Gate, fence, production workshop... Most notably, on a large plot of land, a large-scale steel production workshop frame has been erected but has not yet been roofed. Around the construction site, many equipment and construction materials lie quietly, with weeds growing in between.

In particular, on April 10, 2025, at the regular April meeting of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, this project was allowed to continue to be adjusted. On June 10, 2025, the adjustment policy was officially approved by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee.

Accordingly, the project adjustment contents include: Changing the project name from MDF Fiberboard Manufacturing Factory to Wood Manufacturing and Processing Factory. Completely changing the investment target and scale from MDF, HDF, Plywood and wood panel production to wood pellet, interior wood and wood chips production.

More notably, the total investment capital of the project was adjusted to decrease by more than half, from 2,827.3 billion VND to 1,302.2 billion VND. The land use area of ​​the project was changed from 35 hectares to 26.35 hectares; the project completion schedule was adjusted from the third quarter of 2025 to the fourth quarter of 2026.

In fact, the slow progress does not only happen with the MDF Wood Panel Factory. Some other projects that were registered for investment in Tri Le Industrial Park were not implemented synchronously, even changed investors, leading to the general landscape of the entire Industrial Park becoming deserted. Meanwhile, local people - who once expected to have stable jobs near home - still have to continue to earn a living by farming or working far away.

Mr. Hoang Dinh My - Chairman of Yen Xuan Commune People's Committee said: Currently, Tri Le Industrial Park has not been handed over to local management due to the overlap between relevant regulations and documents. This makes it difficult for the commune government to monitor, supervise as well as participate in supporting and removing obstacles for investors in the Industrial Park.

Many opinions say that the delay of major projects has made Tri Le Industrial Park lose its appeal. Other potential businesses are also cautious when surveying, because the infrastructure is not complete, support services are not available, while key projects are sluggish. This requires levels, sectors and localities to have solutions to remove "bottlenecks" in project progress, otherwise the prospect of "industrial parks on paper" will continue, wasting not only land but also development opportunities of an entire region.