VIB Forum has an interview with Mr Vo Van Luy, Head of the Can Tho Management Board of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and industrial parks (IPs).
Can you tell us about the advantages of Can Tho’s IPs? Which policies has the city issued to exploit these advantages for attracting more domestic and foreign investors?
Can Tho has good infrastructure facilities and they will continue to be improved to create favourable conditions for investors. Accordingly, the Can Tho seaport and the container terminal can receive 10,000 tonne ships and the Tra Noc airport is being upgraded into an international airport. Also, the city has good communication and telecommunication systems, connecting with other localities nationwide and foreign countries. The city’s Tra Noc electric power plant with a capacity of around 200 megawatts has become operational, connecting with the national grid. The city is carrying out the first phase of the O Mon electric power plant with a capacity of 600 megawatts. The plant in the future will have a capacity of 2,600 megawatts. The city’s two existing water supply plants have a total capacity of 90,000 cubic metres per day. The city is building new water supply plants in the Tra Noc II and Hung Phu IPs, which will help the city increase its water supply capacity to around 200,000 cubic metres per day. A regional clinic with 700 patient beds and modern equipment will be put into operation in 2005. The Can Tho International Exhibition and Fair Centre each year hosts between two and four events, creating favourable conditions for producers and consumers to contact each other. Local restaurants, hotels, banks, insurance and auditing companies can satisfy customers’ demand rapidly. Apart from infrastructure, Can Tho has 24 schools, colleges and vocational training centres, of which, the University of Can Tho and the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute are two major training and technical centres with around 20,000 cadres, including 70 professors, doctors and 2,220 master decree holders. The two establishments each year train thousands of bachelors, engineers and technicians. In particular, IPs in Can Tho have convenient communication conditions, locating along the Hau river and national roads, just ten kilometres away from Can Tho city’s downtown, near seaports and airports, as well as material supply areas. Also, Can Tho City has offered many priorities and investment encouragement policies with land rent in concentrated IPs reduced to US$0.98 per square metre per year and a support equal to 50 per cent of IP infrastructure development costs.
Over the past few years, how have enterprises in IPs contributed to Can Tho’s socio-economic development?
By June, 2005, IPs in Can Tho had attracted 128 projects with a total registered capital of US$387.5 million. Of this figure, there are 24 foreign-invested projects, capitalised at around US$100 million. These IPs have created jobs for around 16,500 local people. Furthermore, they have received modern technologies and equipment, as well as advanced management experience from foreign countries, and used effectively on-the-spot materials to create high quality products for export. This has contributed to the city’s sustainable GDP growth rate. Also, their contribution to the budget has seen a high year-on-year increase. In 2004, production value of IPs in Can Tho reached US$356.566 million. Their export turnover was put at 194.921 million and budget contribution was put at VND 586 billion. Also, as IPs are located away from the city’s centre and condensed residential areas, enterprises have to treat their waste water according to the standard B,, and have minimised environmental pollution.
Which disadvantages do IPs in Can Tho have to overcome?
Can Tho has many advantages and great potential as an industrial centre in the Mekong delta. Yet, the city’s investment attraction has not matched this potential. Projects developed in local IPs are of small and medium sizes. We have not attracted multinational corporation projects which possess technology dominating the region. This is because the city’s infrastructure facilities remain poor. One of the difficulties is that the Dinh An passage of the Can Tho seaport often dries up, making it difficult for the port to receive 10,000 tonne ships. As a result, import and export ships have not yet been organised directly from the city to foreign countries. In addition, the Can Tho Bridge, whose construction began in 2005 and is expected to open to traffic in late 2008, the Can Tho airport has not been put into operation yet. As a result, it costs investors a lot of time to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho and vice versa. At the same time, due to a lack of capital for site clearance and compensation for infrastructure development, investors do not have land to carry out their projects. Furthermore, land in Can Tho has a weak foundation, so it costs investors a lot to build the foundation of plants, thus reducing the city’s attractiveness, in particular heavy industrial projects.
We are concentrating on overcoming such disadvantages to promote the city’s attractiveness, building it into a major centre in the Mekong delta.
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1/ Tra Noc I and II IPs:
With a total planned area of 300 hectares, the IPs are located ten kilometres to the north of the centre of Can Tho. They are near the national road 91A to An Giang and Kien Giang and the right bank of the Hau river to Cambodia and the East Sea. They are located two kilometres from the airport and three kilometres from the seaport.
- The Tra Noc I IP has a total area of 135 hectares. It is located in Tra Noc ward, Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city. Its construction began in 1995 and has been completed. All of its land has been leased. The IP has attracted around 100 projects with total registered capital of US$193 million with 68 operational enterprises, which have created jobs for around 14,000 local people.
- The Tra Noc II IP has a total area of 165 hectares. It is located in Phuoc Thoi commune, O Mon district, near the Tra Noc I IP. Its construction began in 1999. So far, it has attracted 20 projects, capitalised at around US$120 million, including three operational enterprises, which have generated jobs for 430 local people. Sixty five per cent its area has been covered.
2/ Hung Phu I and II IPs:
The Hung Phu I and II IPs are located on the right bank of the Hau river, five kilometres to the south of Can Tho city.
- The Hung Phu I IP has a planned area of 350 hectares. Near the IP, the international seaport of Cai Cui and system of warehouses, which are capable of handling two million tonnes of goods per year, have been built. So far, the IP has attracted five projects. Its land occupancy has reached 40 per cent.
- The Hung Phu II IP has a planned area of 226 hectares. Its land occupancy has reached 11.28 per cent so far.
The Hung Phu I and II IPs have various industries, concentrating to attract investment in electric and electronic manufacturing and assembly, farm-produce and seafood processing, construction material and pharmaceutical production.
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Main information about IPs in Can Tho:
Further information is available at the Can Tho Management Board of EPZs and IPs
Add: 105 Tran Hung Dao, Ninh Kieu district, Can Tho city
Tel: 071.832292
Fax: 071.830773
Website: www.canthoepiza.gov.vn
Vietnamese
