Amata IP: Working towards Sustainable Development

We are aware that sustainable development is the common trend in the world and an urgent requirement of Vietnam. From the very beginning of our development, we have advocated the principle that industrial development and economic growth should be in harmony with the nature. As such, sustainable development is no stranger to us. What we have been doing is in line with that basic principle.

 

From now on, we will plant many more trees to make Amata Industrial Park gradually become part of the lung of Bien Hoa City.

 

Yes. Amata Industrial Park has been the cleanest IP in Vietnam. We totally understand the requirement to respect environmental laws. However, there is room for further improvement, like the collection and treatment of solid waste, and the planting of trees. And of course, Amata will continue to protect the environment.

 

 In the process of development, how does Amata urge companies or investors to take measures against environmental pollution?

This is easier said than done. In reality, most investors, except those with famous brand names, try to cut costs; therefore, they would try to meet the requirements set by Amata. What we have done is to try to use the best technology available as well as good service providers to provide adequate environmental protection services at very reasonable cost. In the future, we will introduce some "prizes" to be given to those investors having performed very well in regard to environmental protection.

 

Ho Chi Minh City licensed 68 new investment projects with a total registered capital of US$1.23 billion in the first quarter of 2011, trebling the value over the same period in 2009, and allowed 22 projects to add US$24.7 million to their registered investment capital. The city’s investment environment is getting better. The city can still be the most attractive destination for foreign investors in Vietnam and Asia as a whole in the coming time.

Ho Chi Minh City has handed investment certificates to 3,952 foreign-led projects with a combined registered capital of US$30.53 billion since 1988, asserting its position as a destination of interest for foreign investors.

 

In 2010, the city licensed 375 fresh projects and permitted 113 existing ones to hike capital investment. The number of new projects fell from 2009, but the value of fresh projects rose 81.46 percent to US$1.89 billion and the value of added capital climbed 18.94 percent to US$441.45 million, a little higher than the full-year target set by the People’s Committee, the governing body.

 

Mr Thai Van Re, Director of HCM City Department of Planning and Investment, said: Three most attractive fields to foreign investors in 2010 included real estate business (69.52 percent), processing and manufacturing industry (13.91 percent), and wholesale, retail, automobile, motorbike and engine vehicle repairing (8.26 percent).

 

Mr Re added that the city is calling investment capital into nine service sectors (Financial - credit - banking - insurance services; trading; transportation; warehousing and port services; post - telecommunications and information and communication technology; real estate business; scientific - technological consulting services; tourism; high-quality medical and education services), four industrial sectors (Mechanics; electronics - telecommunications - informatics; chemical and pharmaceutical; high value-added food processing); infrastructure investment (bridges, roads, infrastructure in industrial zones and urban zones); new urban zone development (South City, Thu Thiem and Tay Bac urban zones).

 

According to the Resolution adopted at the ninth Party Congress in the 2010 - 2015 term, the city sets out 18 primary targets to be achieved within the next five years. Social investment in the city will exceed VND1,400 trillion in this stage.

 

Thus, the city will quickly complete land planning and land statistics to define land-use coefficient, construction density, planning objectives, investment forms, and preference mechanisms. It will complete land-use planning, publicise land-use planning, and create favourable conditions for investors to speed up land compensation and clearance. It will accelerate the progress of formulating and approving plans, review to supplement and adjust outdated plans to help investors define and establish their projects.

 

Mr Re said, to meet increasing requirements of businesses, the city will focus on training high quality human resources and building up skilled workers, scientists and technicians. It will adopt policies to develop the contingent of talents and intellects, associate scientific research results with practice, and build mechanisms and support linkages between vocational training schools and enterprises.

 

Besides, Ho Chi Minh City will plan traffic and transportation development and pick up the pace of important approved transport projects, public transport development projects, and urban railway construction projects.

The city will also study and issue specific measures to attract foreign investment into priority fields like education, health and urban planning; adopt solutions to problems arising from the implementation of construction regulations; promulgate guidelines to strengthen the synchronous coordination of land, investment, finance and credit policies to boost foreign investment. The city will monitor the enforcement of investment laws, review regulations and policies on investment to propose necessary amendments or the removal of investment incentives inconsistent with Vietnam's WTO entry commitments. It will tighten licensing management and keep track of investment projects to provide timely solutions to new problems.

 

Ho Chi Minh City will step up administrative procedure reform, improve the quality of the current one-door mechanism, and standardise the one-door mechanism to strengthen public servant accountability and improve service quality to the people.