The industrial authority in Ho Chi Minh City pin their hopes on the freshly-run Vie-Pan Techno Park (VPTP) as the southern economic hub goes to great lengths to accelerate sluggish support industry.

The park, which started operating in early December in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, Nha Be district, is the first of its kind in Vietnam and is constructed to provide pre-fabricated workshops of various sizes.

According to Vu Van Hoa, head of the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, the Japanese small and medium-sized support enterprises only need working space of between 300m2 and 1,000m2 and their demand is met by the VPTP.

Hoa said the park would facilitate enterprises’ connection and form a network of technology and business exchanges, thus benefiting the industry for the sake of development.

Tat Thanh Cang, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said that this kind of park would help local companies establish loser links with foreign companies in terms of technology transfer, in localizing their products with high technology contents.

Eight enterprises have so far confirmed to invest in the park and two of them were already licensed, Hoa said.

Sanko MDF, specialising in water and oil pipes, will be the first company to go into production by the end of December.

Up to nearly 50 percent of Vietnamese companies in the city’s industrial zones are engaging in the support industry but their products have low added value and most of them have not been part of any global supply chain.

Vice Chairman Cang said the city would revise mechanisms and policies relating to finance, land, and trade and investment promotion to assist small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the industry.

The city’s long-term goal is to multiply the VPTP model with a view of establishing a strong support industry in service of its industrialisation and modernisation, Cang said.

Another version of the VPTP will be built at the Le Minh Xuan 3 Industrial Park.-VNA