Set up in 2001, Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) is a key development investment project in Ho Chi Minh City. At present, QTSC is on the road to become the largest software centre in Vietnam. Vietnam Business Forum Magazine interviewed Mr Chu Tien Dung, Director of QTSC, about QTSC’s achievements and its development orientation for the future.
Quang Trung Software City is one of 12 focal programmes and projects of Ho Chi Minh City and is operating very effectively. Can you tell us about the notable achievements of QTSC in the past years?
After six months of construction and development, QTSC has reached five goals in terms of readiness, as follows:
Infrastructure readiness: To date, QTSC has basically completed overall investment for its infrastructure, except for the administrative area under the authority of District 12. QTSC has finished the inner traffic system, the underground 40,000-KVA medium and low voltage electrical cable system, the clean water supply system for the city, a green area system and a beautiful working environment.
Telecommunication readiness: The modern telecom service cable system and a wireless connection system have covered the entire QTSC. The international broadband connection gate and the advanced network system are capable of providing all telecom and internet services for investors, software developers and supplying security IT services. QTSC is an important, safe and reliable data centre for organisations and enterprises.
Luxury office and working environment utility readiness: At present, QTSC has completed and put into use 10 high-grade office buildings covering nearly 100,000 square metres for IT firms and trainers. With these 10 office buildings, QTSC also has 100 high-grade apartments, ranked four or five stars, for specialists working here.
Service readiness: QTSC also has a spacious restaurant chain with increasingly good quality, a 10-route bus system to meet travel demand between QTSC and Cong Hoa, Truong Chinh and Quang Trung roads in inner HCM City. The bus fleet is capable of meeting all travel demand by tenants in TQSC. Many technical assistance services and security services for enterprises have been introduced. The entire service system applies the ISO 001:2000 quality standard. Especially, TQSC effectively implements business assistance services and one-door administrative services to facilitate investors and enterprises.
Human resource training readiness: QTSC has formed a system of professional schools and training units, and cooperated with international units on IT human resource training. TQSC is ready to receive orders from companies to train and improve skills for their employees. TQSC is looking to supply human resources on demand for IT companies in the city.
With efforts to build a comprehensively attractive environment and realise the above five goals, QTSC now has 85 operational members, including 74 software production, software service and IT human resource training companies, 11 service providers for software companies and over 6,600 employees and specialists in QTSC.
QTSC has become a familiar address for investors, software enterprises and IT specialists in Ho Chi Minh City.
Although QTSC is operating very effectively, it has not been able to attract large software projects. What are the results of this?
In its initial years, because QTSC is located far from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, traffic conditions and service conditions are unfavourable and big companies already have working offices in the inner city, most tenants at QTSC are newly established enterprises with small scale operations. However, with the above-mentioned goals reached, many of them have more than 100 employees, some with 300-500 employees. More than 40 companies are now subcontractors for foreign companies. Many big companies are contacting QTSC to relocate their facilities to QTSC. Many important projects invested by foreign companies are considering locating in QTSC, such as BPO project, Data centre project and digital content processing projects.
Will investors in TQSC receive different benefits from other places? Which countries will QTSC focus on attracting capital from in the coming time?
A perfect working environment, a pleasant and tranquil atmosphere, international standards and low service costs are the best treatments for investors. The highest incentives in tax and assistance from the government for software production, software development and digital content companies will be introduced at QTSC. Investors will also benefit from the joint use of a professional and effective working environment. They will also enjoy one-door investment assistance at QTSC.
We do not apply any discrimination concerning the origin of investors. However, most investors come from Japan, North America, Europe and South Korea.
In 2007, QTSC will work with investors to improve the infrastructure system, build more offices to reach 15 buildings covering 150,000 square metres. QTSC will construct a telecom centre to provide a high-quality telecom services, and a data centre for enterprises and organisations. It will also boost human resource training and software enterprise nurturing, develop services, cooperate with tenants to expand markets and seek more partners, and create sustainable development in the city. We will focus on building QTSC into a software industrial city of Ho Chi Minh City and the region in the years to come.
Hoa Binh
Vietnamese
