Defining investment attraction as an important task, Dak Nong province has issued a number of policies of investment encouragement and administrative reform to create a more open investment environment and facilitate investors to do business in the province. To learn more about reforms and orientations concerning investment attraction, Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Mr Tran Xuan Hai, Director of Department of Planning and Investment of Dak Nong province. Thanh Thao reports.
In its work to create an open investment environment, has Dak Nong province attained positive investment attraction results?
Currently, Dak Nong province has seven FDI projects with a combined registered capital of US$31 million, including six wholly foreign-invested projects and one partially foreign-invested project. The province also licensed 104 domestically invested projects with an aggregate registered capital of VND35,918 billion (over US$2 billion). The results, though still modest, reflect the province's efforts to draw capital flows, as well as investor willingness to do business in Dak Nong.
Dak Nong has numerous advantages to attract investors like land, minerals, climate, geographic location and cultural values. So why do investment results still fall short of the province's expectations and potential?
It is a pity that Dak Nong does not have large-scale projects capable of creating a driving force for socio-economic development and economic restructuring. Particularly, most of FDI projects are small-scale and they contribute less than 1 percent of total annual revenues. Dak Nong is a newly established province with insufficient infrastructure and has experienced two financial crises (in 2008 and 2011). Subjectively, the province lacks ready plans and space for investors. Planning is not really completed to pave the way for development investment. In many cases, investors showed some interest but the absence of good planning inhibited them from promoting projects. Site clearance is carried out slowly because of lack of solutions and satisfactory compensation for land owners. Some projects are slowed due to lack of close coordination among relevant provincial organs. The province also falls short of human resources, especially high-skilled manpower.
To improve investment results, Dak Nong will focus on planning and administrative reform and building pre-feasibility projects to identify and approach key strategic investors. The province is striving to improve planning for infrastructure and land fund. It is paying due attention to administrative procedure reform, towards true transparency. Currently, it is applying a single-window mechanism for investment certification and business establishment registration. In 2011, the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) of Dak Nong climbed four notches to 59th out of 63 provinces and cities. Dak Nong is actively rebuilding its image and investment environment in order to be more attractive in the eyes of investors. The province is also reviewing and adjusting investment encouragement policies to ensure high feasibility and enabling investors to access these preferences easily.
To make Dak Nong a really ideal destination for investors, in addition to its efforts, do you think the province also needs support from the central government?
That's right. According to investment attraction direction towards 2020, the province will focus on attracting investment in infrastructure construction (especially transport infrastructure), applied high-tech agriculture, tourism, human resource training, and other areas. It will give priority to projects using advanced technologies, applying environmental protection, using raw materials and local workers, while limiting projects using backward technologies, causing environmental pollution, and over-exploiting land and water resources.
To accomplish the goal of increasing investment and boosting socioeconomic development, in addition to its own efforts, the province is receiving strong, timely and practical support from the central government, particularly capital for traffic infrastructure and hi-tech agricultural zones.
Dak Nong province is asking the central government to upgrade National Road 14, National Road 14C and National Road 28, and Nhan Co Airport; allocate ODA investment projects into the province, especially in infrastructure construction, forestry, agriculture and social security projects; and increase support to promote the province's potential to investment partners, especially foreign investors. Furthermore, the provincial government proposed a mechanism for converting forestland to agricultural land to create land fund for high-tech agricultural investment projects.
Do you think it is time local authorities made changes in policies and practical activities?
Investment attraction in Dak Nong will drop in significance and effectiveness if it is not placed in the context of the overall development of the Central Highlands. So, I think that to enhance the efficiency of investment attraction of Dak Nong and the Central Highlands in general, the provinces in the region need to strengthen cooperation in investment attraction to avoid eliminating others’ advantages; strengthen inter-regional linkage; and enhance product value chains of festivals like Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival, Gia Lai Gong Festival, and Da Lat Flower Festival. At the same time, they need to consolidate cooperation and coordination in tapping tourism potential in the Central Highlands like Central Highlands Green Tour, Central Highlands Heritage Itinerary; and expand cooperation with southern provinces as well as neighbouring countries like Laos and Cambodia. They also need to join efforts in human resource training and product marketing.
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