By flexibly applying State laws, guidelines and policies to local actual conditions, industrial zones in Quang Ngai province have so far achieved positive results in investment attraction. Le Hong Ha, Deputy Director of Quang Ngai Industrial Zones Authority, said operations of industrial zones have contributed to boosting industrial development, speeding up economic restructuring towards industrialisation and modernisation. Cong Luan reports.
Could you please introduce the investment attraction results of industrial zones in Quang Ngai province?
Investment projects licensed into Quang Ngai province-based industrial parks have constantly increased in both quantity and quality. The province granted investment licences to 27 new projects in industrial parks and allowed 11 projects to scale up their investment base from 2011 to 2014 with a total registered capital of VND2,728 billion, including five FDI projects with over US$46 million of registered investment capital. In the first six months of 2015, industrial zones lured seven new projects and allowed three tenants to adjust their scales, with a total registered capital of VND513.626 billion, equal to 256 per cent of the full-year plan. Two projects with US$13.6 million of investment capital were licensed in the period.
At present, Quang Ngai has three industrial parks housing 91 investment projects with an aggregate registered capital of over VND6,531 billion. Tenants in industrial parks generate nearly VND7,000 billion of revenue and pay over VND1,000 billion of taxes to the State Budget a year. They also employ more than 14,400 local workers.
FDI projects in industrial parks have accelerated technology transfer in the province and developed some key economic sectors like electronic parts production, export seafood aquatic processing, thus helping speed up the process of local economic restructuring towards industrialisation and modernisation. Most FDI companies use modern governance systems.
How has Quang Ngai province built and improved infrastructure systems in industrial parks, raised service quality for secondary investors, and sped up administrative reform to facilitate investors to do business in the province?
So far, Tinh Phong and Quang Phu industrial parks have relatively synchronous infrastructure systems for tenants. Pho Phong Industrial Park is under construction.
To develop industries, technical infrastructure construction investment is placed at the forefront to provide good conditions for companies to do business. Hence, utility services for secondary investors have so far not been perfected. For the time being, the authority is promoting the construction of Cultural Institution Zone to satisfy workers’ needs and coordinating with relevant agencies to survey locations and mobilise funds for construction of accommodations for workers and gradually perfect utility services in industrial parks.
In the past years, to simplify procedures and improve the transparency and publicity of policies to secure investors when they make investment decisions, Quang Ngai province and the Industrial Zones Authority as well have strongly pushed up administrative procedure reform. Specifically, from December 2005, Quang Ngai province launched e-government programme to interlink websites of departments and agencies to introduce Quang Ngai province and its new policies. In 2008, the authority established the Investment Task Force to receive, handle and return investment documents and procedures, using the so-called single-window mechanism. In response to the Government Project 30, Quang Ngai province set up the Task Force for Scheme 30 to review administrative procedures to simplify procedures and implement the single-window mechanism for administrative procedures. The Provincial People’s Committee and the Industrial Zones Authority host annual meetings with tenants in industrial parks to listen to their problems to have best supports for them.
As the available rentable area in industrial parks is shrinking, how will the province expand industrial parks to meet the demand of domestic and international investors? Do you have any suggestions for perfection of the current industrial zone model?
As the available rentable area in industrial parks is shrinking (Tinh Phong and Quang Phu industrial parks are almost filled and Pho Phong Industrial Park is under construction), the Quang Ngai Industrial Zones Authority to cooperate with related bodies to survey and plan two new industrial parks, Pho Khanh and Dong Dinh. Besides, the authority will prepare documents and ask the Provincial People’s Committee to ballot central authorities for reviewing the industrial park development scheme towards 2020 and subsequent years. We are currently awaiting opinions from central authorities.
The Quang Ngai Industrial Zones Authority proposed that the Government of Vietnam approve the additional plans of Pho Khanh and Dong Dinh industrial parks. It also asked the Provincial People’s Committee to endorse the construction investment in centralised wastewater treatment systems in industrial parks to ensure environmental protection.
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