HCMC – Danish group Lego will invest US$1 billion in a project to build a plant in Vietnam to meet the growing global demand, following the signing of an MOU with the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park operator on December 8 in Hanoi in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.
The carbon-neutral plant, set to get off the ground in the second half of 2022 in the southern province of Binh Duong, will start producing building blocks in 2024, creating some 4,000 jobs for locals. It will be Lego’s sixth plant in the world and its second one in Asia, Vnexpress reported.
Kim Hojlund Christensen, Danish ambassador to Vietnam, said this is the most capital-intensive project by a Danish company here, highlighting Denmark’s growing confidence in Vietnam.
The news website said that the Danish ambassador had earlier informed Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh about Lego’s intention to set up a new production site in Southeast Asia and hoped for support from the Vietnamese Government. Minh then told the Danish envoy that he would contact the Danish group, which he did a fortnight later via a phone call between Deputy PM Minh and Lego’s Chief Operating Officer Carsten Rasmussen.
During his trip to attend COP26 in the UK, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also had a meeting on November 1 with the Lego CEO and suggested the group work with Vietnamese ministries and relevant parties over the project.
Bloomberg reported that the project includes solar energy generation and will create 4,000 jobs over the next 15 years at the site in Binh Duong, close to HCMC. It will be Lego’s sixth production site, adding to its facilities in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico and China.
Lego is also working on alternatives to oil-based plastics in its building blocks. It plans to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 37% by 2032, including those from its supply chain.
The company will work with the local authorities to plant 50,000 trees in Vietnam to compensate for the vegetation removed during construction.
