Since the re-establishment on Jan 1, 2004, Hau Giang’s leadership from the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee have been directing with attention the development of industrial parks and the promotion of investment attraction. Those efforts have brought about impressive achievements in investment attraction for the province’s industrial zones. Vietnam Business Forum had an interview with Mr Nguyen Tan Hung, Head of the Provincial Industrial Park Management Board. Cong Luan reports.
Can you tell us about the competitive advantage of Hau Giang’s industrial parks and the results of industrial park investment attraction in the province to date?
Being fully aware of our advantages, Hau Giang leadership have directed the planning to ensure that industrial parks in the province all have favourable locations, which means they are convenient for road and waterway transport; close to Can Tho - the central city of the Mekong Delta where socio-economic infrastructures are strong enough to meet the demands from the development of industrial parks as well as from all industrial park investment projects of the province; having easy access to the infrastructure of Can Tho City such as airports, international river ports, services and human resources. These are big advantage in attracting investment and developing industrial parks in Hau Giang.
Especially, the province has introduced the policy on land allocation and land lease in consideration of the province’s conditions while ensure all requirements of investors are met, which means using advance capital from investors for the implementation then deduct later from land lease or land allocation payment. Also, Hau Giang’s categorized as a locality of particular difficult socio - economic conditions and as specified by Decree 218/2013/ND-CP, investment projects in the province’s industrial parks will be given the most favourable tax incentives.
In order to effectively utilize this advantage, over recent years as well as for the next phase of development, the work of investment attraction has been and will continue to be conducted consistently and uniformly throughout the whole political system, giving investors reassurance through substantial and strong support, for example by establishing support groups, steering boards…, also applying the mechanism “one stop shop, in place” to handle administrative procedures at the Management Board to help save time and costs, creating the most favourable conditions for investors. Also twice a year, the PPC hold dialogue with enterprises in the area to hear about their difficulties and problems in order to give timely directions as well as assistance.
Thanks to the flexible adoption of the state’s various guidelines, policies and laws in consideration of the local conditions, so far the industrial parks in Hau Giang have achieved encouraging results in investment attraction. The first 6 months of 2015, it drew in 6 projects with an area of 46.1 hectares, registered capital of VND4,041.83 billion; a 200 percent increase year on year and 150 percent compared to the 2015 investment plan. So far, the industrial parks has attracted 41 investors with 48 projects (4 FDI projects) of total VND64,262.50 billion and US$668.7 million, covering an registered area of approximately 617.50 hectares; not to mention the investment project of Toyo Malaysia Group in the Song Hau 2 Thermal Power Plant which is on the phase of finalizing procedures, total registered capital of this project is about US$2.6 billion. Currently, the industrial parks have total 22 projects in operation, making positive contribution to the growth of industrial production, strengthening exports and the economy’s competitiveness as well as creating jobs with stable income for local workers.
Along with the completion of technical infrastructure, how has Hau Giang been paying attention to issues such as raising the quality of services for secondary investors; speeding up administrative reform; training high-quality human resources to supply the demands of businesses in the industrial parks?
To assist investors in implementing their projects, the Management Board has strengthened the management of investment and construction projects in industrial parks and clusters according to regulations on investment and construction procedures, environment, fire protection and prevention... We also stay side by side with investors in solving difficulties and problems encountered during project implementation and recruitment. The province has established the Legal Assistance Centre for Businesses under the Provincial Department of Justice to aid enterprises on legal issues.
The administrative reform is also a priority of the Management Board, of which the key is to implement the “one stop window” mechanism to help investors and companies save time and costs. The Management Board also acts as an information hub for details of policies and regulations, businesses’ plans and recruitment as well as job seekers’ information, facilitating the convergence of these flows, promoting information exchange to generate labour relations. Regarding the training of human resources, the Management Board actively submits information to the Provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs so that the training can be adjusted to suit diverse requirements of enterprises. We also work closely with businesses wishing to have their workers trained to design suitable training directions which will then be given to the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Development of too many industrial parks too fast can cause negative impacts on the environment. What measures has the Management Board been implementing to ensure a harmonized and environmental friendly production?
Right from the start, the Management Board has driven the construction of the province’s industrial parks towards clean, green and sustainable development. To ensure a harmonized and environmental friendly production in the industrial parks, the Management Board keeps a close environmental supervision, from the stage of orientation and planning to the management of companies’ output. Specifically, in planning, all industrial parks have functional areas, orientation of investment attraction, reasonable layout to avoid impacts between sectors; planning of infrastructure investments to serve the purpose of environmental protection in industrial parks includes waste collection and processing projects, and tree planting. The Management Board has specific orientation in attracting industries into each industrial park, keeping to the minimum the number of license (new or extended) granted for industries which may cause serious environmental pollution. We strengthen the environmental assessment of projects registered for investment; giving priority to projects using modern, advanced and environmentally friendly technology.
In term of managing companies’ operation, the Management Board actively guides, supports and closely monitors their compliance with environmental protection regulations, from the stage of procedure formulation to implementation, from the introduction of investment policy throughout the operation. For violation cases, the Management Board maintains regular guidance and warnings to urge businesses soon fix their mistakes. However, for companies with prolonged, serious or intentional violation, the Management Board makes sure to have it handled properly. In 2014, the Management Board in collaboration with the Environmental Crime Prevention Office of the Provincial Police Department, inspectors from the Department of Natural Resources & Environment and from the Vietnam Environment Administration handles several cases of administrative violations of companies, total fine was US$1.9 billion; those cases were reported publicly on the media to give an warning to other companies. Inspection and monitoring so far have shown that most companies have fixed their shortcomings.
Can you tell us about the orientation of investment attraction as well as industries of investment priority in the province’s industrial parks in the near future?
In the near future, Hau Giang’s industrial parks will focus on attracting and selecting investment projects applying modern technology and environmental friendly; building layouts that’s in line with the planning of industrial parks; inviting investment in the infrastructure construction of the Nhon Nghia A Industrial Cluster, the Dong Phu Phase 1 Industrial Cluster, housing for workers and services for the industrial parks, industrial urban of Hau River.
The priority industries in industrial park investment attraction include: manufacturing and assembling agricultural tools; Rice processing for export; investment in constructing factories manufacturing automobile parts, electronic components, telecommunications and Internet equipment; investment in constructing factories manufacturing bottled and canned juices; fruit and vegetable processing; manufacturing high-end furniture made from new materials for export; manufacturing garments for export; producing construction materials using new technologies; building power plants and power transmission facilities.
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