Sustaining Economic and Industrial Zone Development

Attracting investment fund into economic and industrial zones in Tra Vinh province has achieved encouraging results. This success comes from strong and timely attention of provincial leaders, consistent coordination of relevant agencies and localities, support of the business community and investors and, of course, positive efforts of the Tra Vinh Economic Zone Authority to reform administrative procedures and make the investment environment more appealing to investors. Following is an interview with Mr. Nguyen Quynh Thien, Deputy Director of the Tra Vinh Economic Zone Authority, by Vietnam Business Forum Magazine. Cong Luan reports.

Could you please tell us about investment attraction results and production - business development in economic zones and industrial zones in Tra Vinh province?

According to the approved plan, Tra Vinh currently has one economic zone and three industrial parks. The 100-ha Long Duc Industrial Park has an occupancy rate of about 90% of the rentable area. Particularly, Dinh An Economic Zone, covering 39,020 ha, is a key investment magnet and a potential engine of economic development of the province in the future.

Besides, Tra Vinh planned to build 13 small industrial complexes to 2020, with a vision to 2030. At present, the province assigns priority to draw investment capital into Long Duc Industrial Park, as well as industrial complexes, to form industrial manufacturing hubs.

To date, Tra Vinh province-based economic and industrial zones attracted 77 projects with total registered capital of VND157,875.62 billion (US$6.8 billion), of which Dinh An Economic Zone housed 45 projects with VND154,731.94 billion, and Long Duc Industrial Park accommodated 32 projects with VND3,143.68 billion.

Tenants in Tra Vinh economic and industrial zones earned US$ 150 million from exports since the beginning of this year, up 7.91% year on year and equal to 48.39% of the 2019 plan; and their revenue was estimated at VND15,000 billion (US$650 million) in the reported period, up 32.38% year on year and equal to 57.69% of the yearly plan (VND3,750 billion from Long Duc Industrial Park and VND11,250 billion from Dinh An Economic Zone. They paid VND350 billion to State coffers, reaching 46.67% of the 2019 plan (VND45 billion from Long Duc Industrial Park and VND305 billion from Dinh An Economic Zone).

How will economic and industrial zones of Tra Vinh province attract investment capital in the coming time?

The province advocates tapping local potential advantages and attracting investment capital to develop economic and industrial zones, especially foreign direct investment (FDI). Tra Vinh will speed up the progress of key investment projects, inter-regional and regional projects; give priority to transport infrastructure investment projects, economic and industrial zone infrastructure projects. It will focus on industrial investment projects, supporting industrial projects, and high-tech projects; assign importance to foreign-funded projects; and mobilize available funding sources for industrial, commercial and tourism development and infrastructure construction.

To speed up the sustainable development of economic and industrial zones, which key tasks will the Tra Vinh Economic Zone Authority focus on?

The Tra Vinh Economic Zone Authority will continue to try to utilize all available resources to advise the Provincial People’s Committee to introduce specific mechanisms and policies to entice investors and businesses to the province. At the same time, we pay attention to protecting environmental resources, developing locally advantageous industries such as wind power, solar power, seafood production and processing, bonded warehouses, logistics, tourism and entertainment. Currently, attracting investors into Dinh An Economic Zone to align maritime economic development with key Mekong Delta economic regions is one potential strength of the province.

The Tra Vinh Economic Zone Authority has actively accelerated administrative reform, specially to resist corruption and wastefulness, build an enabling administrative apparatus in line with the single-window mechanism, and better serve people and businesses. At the same time, we assign priority to job creation, attract more workers, create spillover effects on domestic and foreign enterprises seeking to explore investment opportunities in the economic and industrial zones, thus helping generate an important driving force for Tra Vinh province to make disruptive progress in economic potential in general and draw investment capital to develop economic and industrial zones in particular.

Thank you very much!