Economic and Industrial Zone Development: Seeking Best Mechanisms

The Ministry of Planning and Investment said Vietnam will have 463 industrial zones covering a total of 139,500 ha of land developed according to the Industrial Zones Development Master Plan to 2015, with a vision to 2020, approved by the Prime Minister. By the end of December 2015, the country will have 304 industrial zones established with a total land area of 85,200 ha of land, of which 56,000 ha will be leased to investors, accounting for 66 percent of total area. In the five-year plan from 2011 to 2015, a total of 44 industrial zones have been established and expanded with total area of 13,800 ha, lower than the area in the previous five-year plan from 2006 to 2010 (44,400 ha) and the objective of 17,000-20,000 ha in the five-year plan from 2011 to 2015.

 

In general, established industrial zones are mostly consistent with national and local industrial zone development plans as well as local land-use planning and industrial development plan. Particularly, the southeast region of Vietnam has 104 industrial zones, accounting for 34.2 percent of total industrial zones - the most in the country, followed by the Red River Delta region with 79 zones (26.1 percent) and the southwest region with 51 zones (17.1 percent). Among 304 established industrial zones, 206 zones, covering 57,900 ha, are now in operation and 97 zones, covering 26,100 ha, are under construction, .

 

Besides, according to updated figures from the Economic Zones Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first nine months of 2015, four new industrial zones were set up and expanded, including Thanh Hai (Ninh Thuan province) , Chu Trinh (Cao Bang province), Chan Hung (Vinh Phuc province), and Mong Hoa (Hoa Binh province). As of the end of September 2015, 299 industrial zones were founded with a total land area of nearly 84,000 ha. In the first nine months of the year, the Prime Minister signed Decision 42/2015/QD-TTg dated September 16, 2015 on the establishment of 23,792-ha Dong Nam Quang Tri Economic Zone and issued Decision 10/2015/QD-TTg dated April 4, 2015 to expand Dong Nam Nghe An Economic Zone by 750 ha and Decision 18/2015/QD-TTg dated June 12, 2015 to expand Nghi Son Economic Zone (Thanh Hoa province) by more 87,388.18 ha), bringing the total area of ground and surface water of economic zones to 814,792 ha. Vietnam now has 16 coastal economic zones.

 

The Economic Zones Management Department said, in the first nine months of 2015, economic and industrial zones drew 379 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total registered investment capital of over US$7,161 million and saw 263 projects supplement more than US$1,569 million, totalling US$8,720 million, up 12 percent from the same period in 2014. Economic and industrial zones accounted 59 percent of total FDI projects and 67 percent of total FDI capital licensed in the country in the reviewed period. New FDI capital in economic and industrial zones accounted for 85 percent of total FDI registered in the processing and manufacturing industry and equalled 83 percent of the plan set for 2015. Also in the first nine months, revenue of tenants in economic and industrial zones was US$90 billion, an increase of 1.5 times from a year earlier, exports reached US$58.6 billion, up 64 percent year on year, and tax payments grossed US$56.5 billion, up 55 percent. Economic and industrial zones generated 157,000 new jobs.

 

At the working meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, Head of the Steering Committee for Economic and Industrial Zones Development, appreciated the efforts and development of economic and industrial zones. However, he stressed important tasks that local authorities and economic and industrial managers must continue to provide every investment preference mechanism, concentrated scientific and technological resources and manpower to ensure environmental protection, sustainable development and local social security.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hai thus asked local authorities to fulfil their assigned tasks to constitute the main driving force for local development and contribute resources for balancing the economic development of the nation. In addition, he demanded pollution prevention, waste and wastewater treatment in economic and industrial zones and cottage villages for sustainable development.

 

Particularly, Deputy Prime Minister Hai also named 10 provinces with low occupancy rate of industrial zones and required them to work harder to better support investment, site clearance and infrastructure construction.

 

As an instructor and designer, Deputy Prime Minister Hai designated the Ministry of Planning and Investment to review administrative procedures and regimes to work out reform plans, seek out solutions to existing issues, promptly answer questions from investors, and facilitate production and business operations in economic and industrial zones. The ministry must create development investment policies to avoid overlapping regulations on domestic and foreign investment, build database to manage, supplement and complete legal documents concerning economic and industrial zone development and supporting industries to match new development contexts.