The Central Highland province of Gia Lai has issued a list of projects calling for investment from now to 2015, in addition to a set of attractive investment incentives, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

“The province needs a total investment of 11.2 trillion VND (622 million USD) for 53 projects in sectors as agriculture, construction, wind power, services and tourism,” it said.

The province’s ability to attract investment still lagged despite increasing efforts from the local authority, said its People’s Committee chairman Pham The Dung.

Authorities vowed to continue to speed up the administrative procedure reforms to better facilitate investment activities, Dung said, emphasising several investment incentives that the province was offering.

The province, for example, would make heavier investment in infrastructure, which would help create favourable conditions for investors to implement their projects. Power lines, roads for convenient transportation and water treatment systems will be directly linked to production workshops.

Investors in industrial zones will not have to pay fees for using infrastructure in the first five years of operation, and will enjoy a 50 percent fee reduction over the subsequent five years. Gia Lai will also offer investors financial support in environmental treatment.

“The recovery of the international and domestic economies, the upgrading of Pleiku Airport and the opening of the Hanoi-Pleiku direct air route will create more favourable conditions for investors interested in the province,” Dung said.

The province now has 390,000ha of agricultural land, including 76,000 ha of coffee, 58,000ha of rubber, 20,000ha of cashew and other kinds of crop. Gia Lai has a bid reserve of forests, with a total forest area of 828,000ha.

It is home to six industrial zones (IZs), in which 110ha Tra Da IZ saw 80 percent of land occupancy, attracting 24 projects capitalised at 32 million VND (1.7 million USD).

As of October, Gia Lai province had attracted only nine foreign-invested projects worth 75 million USD, according to the Foreign Investment Agency./.