A part of the Pho Noi A Industrial Park in Hung Yen province. (Photo: viettimes.vn) Vietnam has established 335 industrial parks (IPs) on a total area of 97,840ha,of which 260 are already operational with an occupancy rate of over 76 percent,while 75 are under construction, according to the Department of Economic ZonesManagement.
The country is also home to 17 economic zones (EZs), covering nearly 850,000ha.
These zones have thus far attracted over 9,780 foreign-invested projects with atotal registered capital of 194.69 billion USD, and 109.79 billion USD of thesum has been disbursed. At the same time, they also lured 1,387domestically-funded projects worth over 1.46 trillion VND, and 533 billion VND havebeen implemented.
According to Chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) VuTien Loc, as Vietnam moves towards industrialisation and modernisation, IPs andEPs have played an important role in attracting investment in manufacturing andcontributing to the State budget.
However, their development has many weaknesses, such as a lack of large zonesand a shortage of adequate infrastructure to develop key industries and modernservices, making it difficult to attract major investors from Europe and NorthAmerica.
Many localities thought that their IPs, EPZs and EZs only needed to providebusinesses with premises and factories rather than offer them an ecosystem andinternational standard business support area, Loc said.
Dang Hung Vo, former deputy minister of Natural Resources and Environment, saidthe majority of investment into Vietnam's IPs and EZs mainly came fromSingapore, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan instead of from Europe andNorth America as there were still too few large-scaled IPs which would comprisemixed-use industrial-urban-service areas, in the country.
Vo said many large IPs in the world had mixed-use industrial-urban-serviceareas. For example, the Shanghai Xinzhuang Industrial Park (SHXIP), in whichhalf of the investors came from Europe and North America.
Bui Le Anh Hieu from Long Hau JSC, which owns the Long Hau Industrial Park inLong An province, said many IPs had been planned with the empty ground or rudimentaryfactories and lacked the necessary connections and services for production. Hieualso outlined investment location, logistics infrastructure, time, and rentalcosts as three significant issues investors care about.
He suggested that more institutional reforms were needed, especially onupgrading services to create better conditions for investors to attracthigh-quality FDI in IPs and EPZs.
Furthermore, experts said that difficulties in access to investment informationand matters surrounding human resources also gave investors a headache.
Kenji Usuda, General Director of the Japanese Kyouwa Co, told a conference in HoChi Minh City last week that Vietnam had to improve the quality of its humanresources to attract more foreign investors to its IPs and EZs.
Earlier this year, several IPs in many localities across the country receivedapproval from Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to establish and expand, vneconomyreported.
The PM approved a plan to develop the expanded Hoa Phu IP infrastructure in BacGiang province. The 85ha project requires an investment of over 1 trillion VND,including 166 billion VND from Hoa Phu Invest Co.
In Hai Phong City, Tien Thanh IZ JSC received an approval to build 411ha Tien ThanhIP, which is expected to cost more than 4.59 trillion VND. At the same time,Plastic Chemicals Group JSC was allowed to develop the expanded Dong Van I IPin Ha Nam province with a total investment capital of 540 billion VND.
The PM also gave green light to the Hoa Phat Hung Yen Industrial ParkInfrastructure Development Company's plan to develop the expanded Yen My II IP.The project covers 216ha in Hung Yen province and requires an investment ofover 2.68 trillion VND.
Meanwhile, the development of Phu Thuan IP was also approved by the PM. To bebuilt at a cost above 3.58 trillion VND, the IP spans 232ha in Ben Tre province'sBinh Dai district./.
VNA
