A view of Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in HCM City’s District 7, which is expected to become an eco-industrial zone by 2025. (Photo: VNA) Earlier, the HCM City Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones Authority(HEPZA) had submitted the plan for the committee's approval with theaim of gradually weeding out labour-intensive firms and those using outdatedtechnologies in Industrial Parks (IPs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs).
It has instructed HEPZA to clarify certain requirements related to investmentin high technologies by businesses.
HEPZA should encourage enterprises in existing industrial zones to converttheir businesses into eco-services and ecological urban areas, it said.
It needs to come up with solutions for moving enterprises from theircurrent IPs to new ones after their land lease expires and do not want toconvert their businesses, it said.
It also needs to identify lands on its borders with neighbouringprovinces and in underdeveloped areas or near the city’s gatewaysfor developing new industrial parks in future, it said.
HEPZA plans to pilot the programme at four IPs: Tan Thuan EPZ in District 7, TanBinh IP in Tan Binh district, Hiep Phuoc IP in Nha Be district, and Cat Lai IPin Thu Duc city.
It also wants to build two new industrial zones in Binh Chanh district, the 320haLe Minh Xuan 2 Industrial Park and 670ha Pham Van Hai Industrial Park, to houseclean, advanced and high-tech industries.
Recently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in collaboration with the UNIndustrial Development Organisation and the Management Board of IPs and EPZs,held a seminar in the city to discuss how to turn IPs and EPZs intoeco-industrial parks (EIPs).
This is among the activities within the framework of the project onestablishing EIPs in Vietnam following the Global Eco-Industrial ParksProgramme (GEIPP), in which Hiep Phuoc IP is selected to be the first inHCM City to pilot the model.
Speaking at the event, Pham Thanh Truc, deputy head of Management Board of IPsand EPZs in the city, said that after 30 years of construction and development,IPs and EPZs in the city have gained certain achievements, making positivecontributions to the industrialisation and modernisation of the country.However, there remain certain limitations.
Sharing the same view, Nguyen Tram Anh, an expert from the Ministry of Planningand Investment, said that the limitations in the development of IPs today arethe lack of linkages between businesses in the zone; inefficient use ofresources; unsecured energy and water; and their negative impacts on the naturalenvironment and living environment of near-by residents.
She affirmed that the trend of shifting from traditional IPs to EIPs isinevitable.
The city has 17 IPs, EPZs and high-tech parks covering a total area of morethan 3,800 hectares. It targets having 23 ‘green’ high-tech EPZs and IPs with6,000ha./.
VNA
