Since re-establishment, Hau Giang has always actively promoted all available potential advantages and made use of flexible mechanisms to create favourable investment conditions. Thanks to its non-stop efforts, Hau Giang has always been appreciated and trusted by investors. To learn about these achievements, Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Vo Ta Thang, Director of Hau Giang Provincial Department of Planning and Investment. Duc Binh reports.
Could you please talk about the investment results that Hau Giang has achieved since re-establishment? What obstacles is the province still facing?
In terms of the investment, the province has attracted 473 projects with a total capital of VND121,581 billion, that is more than 7.4 times compared with 2004. The investment certificates are issued annually for approximately 60 projects, with an average annual growth of the capital of over VND8,000 billion.
Regarding FDI, over 10 years, the province has attracted 26 projects with a total capital of US$727.6 million, of which 11 projects with 100 percent foreign capital account for US$636.6 million; The remaining 15 projects are registered as joint ventures with foreign capital of US$80 million. The ODA has mobilised 16 projects with a total capital of VND1,222 billion, of which 7 projects have been completed; 4 projects are being processed, 5 are prepared to be implemented. The capital of the non-governmental organisation also plays an important role in mobilising the resources efficiently, with a total registered capital of US$2,458 million and total reimbursement of US$1,438 million, which accounts for 60 percent of the registered capital.
Along with high efficiency in attracting investment, the investment environment of Hau Giang in recent years has been constantly improved. In 2006, Hau Giang was listed among provinces with the average PCI (provincial competitiveness index); from 2007 to 2008, it was among the provinces with the above average PCI; from 2009 to 2011, it was among the provinces with the high PCI and in 2012, Hau Giang was ranked 11th among 63 provinces and it was ranked 7th among 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta; and in 2013, it ranked 20th in 63 provinces in the country and 9th out of 13 in the Mekong Delta.
However, the increasing number of investment projects has not been commensurate with the advantages and potentials of the province. Although the investment environment has improved significantly, investors are still facing bottlenecks in the transportation infrastructure system; the infrastructure system in the industrial zones is still weak; the efficiency of attracting investment is not high; the business supporting policies and legal mechanisms are not clear or not attractive enough to investors.
To remove this bottleneck, in the upcoming time, the province will focus on accelerating the implementation of compensation and site clearance to obtain the new investment projects. The province will mobilise the resources to focus on the investment in the development of the production capacity, especially in the field of infrastructure construction, and timely respond to the needs investment of FDI. The province focuses on accelerating infrastructure construction in industrial zones, districts and related clusters and industries.
Besides improving human resources and the quality of the vocational training course to meet the need for high quality human resources of the investors, the province will also strengthen the promotion and select the partner for investment as well as actively supporting the investors in all aspects. The province also focuses on expanding and implementing the policies to create the conditions for the domestic enterprises and the FDI enterprises to do business in the province. The province also focuses on developing the supporting industries and the service industries to meet the needs of the manufacturing businesses and create favourable conditions to solve the problems of the investors through the decentralisation of the relevant agencies. The province will start to establish the SME development fund to support the small and medium enterprises and organise dialogues between businesses and banks to address the financing issue.
What has Hau Giang done to improve the infrastructure system, particularly transport infrastructure, to attract investors and businesses?
Since the province was re-established, Hau Giang has focused on investing in many core construction projects such as Highway 61, the Hau River road in the western side, Quan Lo- Phung Hiep road, cross-road between Vi Thanh and Ho Chi Minh City, Xa No Cannel in the southern area of Ho Chi Minh City, Cai Tu bridge to connect with Kien Giang and the connection with Ho Chi Minh City in the second stage.
Notably, in terms of investment in the socio-economic infrastructure, the province has launched many important projects such as the City Hall and the administration areas of the Provincial People's Committee and the road connecting Vi Thanh and Can Tho City. The new projects include the transportation system to connect Bon Tong to Mot Ngan, 925 road, 928 road, motorways, the provincial hospital, Xa No embankment, hospital with 500 beds, near the 5,000ha of sugarcanes are surrounded by dikes. Among the core projects, the Hau Giang high technology industrial park with the areas of 5,200 hectares is the significant achievement; established in 2012, it is the second largest field of the province and one of the three fields in the phase of replication; and some of agricultural products like Nam Roi grapefruit, Ho Lo grapefruit, featherback fish and tilapia are registered trademarks. The province also focuses on building the "Hau Giang" Rice brand on the international market.
According to the PCI report, Hau Giang has been among the provinces with above average PCI ranking from 2007 to 2013. Where does this result come from? In the future, to improve the PCI ranking, what strategies and action plans will the province propose?
The investment environment of Hau Giang in recent years has improved and from 2007 to 2013, Hau Giang is always at the above average PCI. Particularly, in 2013, the province was ranked 20th among 63 provinces of the country and 9th in the the Mekong Delta. This result reflects the PCI of Hau Giang is relatively stable and it comes from the great efforts of the purely agricultural province.
However, in 2013, Hau Giang still had three shortcomings in the business support services, human resource training, and transparent access to the information. In the future, to improve the PCI results, Hau Giang will strengthen the implementation of measures to improve the PCI. The province significantly focuses on building a specific implementation plan for each component index and publicizing the investment procedures, and business information on the website of Hau Giang and of the Department of Planning and Investment. It also sets up the hotlines (i.e. telephone number, fax number, e-mail) on the mass media to receive and address the issues of the businesses. There are training courses for workers in enterprises and local human resources to ensure the labour requirements of the business. Also, along with the establishment of the provincial business association, the province supports for the small and medium enterprises and assign the investment promotion agencies to promote the supporting services for the enterprises.
To facilitate the investment environment in the next year, what key points will Hau Giang focus on?
The provincial focus is to set out favourable platforms to promote production and business development, restructuring the economy, forming projects to call for investment, and developing priority areas such as industrial processing, agriculture, fisheries, agriculture, high-technology, tourism, infrastructure, transportation and water supply. The province will also promulgate a list of projects to call for investment in potential areas, focusing on attracting the FDI in the economic areas with high advantages and potentials, such as agriculture, fisheries, processing industry, trade, services and tourism.
In addition, the province will study the solutions to support the businesses as well as maximize incentives for investors who pay great interest in the province through the policies on exemption of the corporate income tax, exemption of the land rent and the fees of land use and reduction of the import tax. At the same time, the province will strengthen and direct timely the reform of the administrative procedures, gradually reducing the steps of the investment procedures, thereby creating the favourable conditions for investors to implement the project soon.
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