Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh has told the Ministry of Planning and Investment(MPI) to submit to the Government specific mechanisms and policiesneeded to turn the country's largest island, Phu Quoc, into a specialeconomic zone.
Ninh complained about the slowdevelopment of plans to turn the island into a city in southernmost KienGiang province and gradually set up a special administrative andeconomic zone.
He said that although he had told theMPI to complete the plans in December last year, it has so far submittedonly a draft to the Prime Minister.
To speed up theprogress, Ninh required the Steering Committee for the West SouthernRegion and Kien Giang province to carry out feasibility studies ondeveloping special procedures and policies for Phu Quoc.
He added that they should see the proposal of Quang Ninh on building policies for Van Don island as a reference.
Ninh also instructed local authorities to scrutinise investors whowant to invest in the area with priorities given to large-sized, hightech and environment protection projects.
The localauthorities recently said that they cancelled 93 projects on Phu Quocisland, with a total area of 5,500ha. These projects were stoppedbecause investors could not find funding to implement the projects sothat the implementation was slow or did not take place at all. Someprojects are no longer suitable for the development plan of Phu Quocisland.
In the whole island, the total number of validprojects is said to be more than 200. They cover a total area of8,900ha. Of these, 81 projects were granted investment certificatescovering 3,800ha, with a total capital of 88 trillion VND, (4 billionUSD) but only 13 are operating.
In the MasterDevelopment Planning of Phu Quoc island approved by the Government, theisland is considered important as it is located in the centre of SouthEast Asia.