BRI & HK EP5 | Starting from scratch, HK papermaking firm builds up industrial ecosystem in Vietnam

About three and a half hours' drive from Ho Chi Minh City in the southern region of Vietnam, there is a place called Hau Giang province, which many people first heard of because of a Hong Kong company, Lee & Man Paper Mfg. Ltd.

Zhong Weifu, the 58-year-old General Manager of Vietnam Liwen Paper recalled the company's development in the region over the past ten years, saying with great emotion, "Action speaks louder than words, and that's how we do things."

In the past ten years, Vietnam Liwen Paper has not only made new headway for the enterprise, but also led the local area to become a famous industrial park, and even the high standard of environmental protection has become a model for Vietnam's industrial environmental protection.

Established in 1994, Hong Kong Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Company Limited (Lee & Man Paper) is a paper manufacturer with a certain scale and strength in the paper industry with a production capacity that ranks among the top in the global industry. Around 2013-2014, taking advantage of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, Lee & Man Paper decided to go to Vietnam for development, and Zhong Weifu led the first team to work in Vietnam and has since stayed for ten years.

"Before the factory's construction in 2014, the site in Hau Giang Province was just a barren farmland with nothing on it," Zhong recalled. After more than two years of construction, the 83-hectare factory site gradually took shape. Vietnam Liwen Paper has since had its own production workshops, dormitories, wharves, container yards, warehouses, and even its own power station, sewage treatment station, and water plant, which are self-sufficient in everything from water and electricity supply to sewage treatment and discharge.

Zhong told us that in the first two or three years after the factory opened, the company and local universities and colleges jointly organized courses. If local college or high school graduates sign a contract with the company, the company will send them to study in universities and colleges, free of charge.

The company not only creates job opportunities for local people, but also takes care of every aspect of their lives.

Zhong Weifu said that from the beginning, there was not a single factory around, no power station and water plant, but now there is a wide road, water supply system, and power supply system, attracting many enterprises.