Tay Ninh Province Actively Tapping Advantages

Despite having many advantages and high potential, Tay Ninh province’s economic development remains slower than other localities in the key southern economic region. Following are inputs and comments made by leaders of departments in Tay Ninh province about solutions for developing the province’s economy.

 

In comparison with Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, Tay Ninh has been slower in attracting investment and developing industry. In order to attract capital for development, apart from efforts to promote economic co-operation and exchange experience on investment promotion with other localities, Tay Ninh province should make further efforts to improve its competitiveness for investment attraction. Accordingly, the province should concentrate on settling its shortcomings and weaknesses in administrative procedures before and after granting investment certificates, implementing an ‘on-the-spot mechanism’ at industrial parks and border gate economic zones, and a ‘one door and one focal point mechanism’ at the provincial Department of Planning and Investment for projects developed outside industrial parks and border gate economic zones. At the same time, co-operation between local authorised agencies and departments and industrial parks and border gate economic zones should be promoted to settle administrative procedures in the shortest time.

 

In addition, Tay Ninh province will focus on developing investment promotion programmes and boosting investment promotion activities in various forms, such as direct investment promotion in Vietnam and foreign countries with the assistance from ministries and central agencies, as well as provinces in the key southern economic region. Also, alongside calling for enterprises in Vietnam and foreign countries to invest in infrastructure development, Tay Ninh province has spent part of its budget on site clearance, infrastructure development, land fund creation, material base upgrading for vocational training schools. In particular, the province will have land fund for projects on building houses for local workers, welfare works for local people and workers in industrial parks and border gate economic zones.  

The Trang Bang industrial park has a total planned area of 1,650 hectares, including 760 hectares for industrial production. By November 15, 2006, the industrial park had had 110 projects, including 90 foreign-invested projects and 20 domestic projects with a total registered capital of US$223.9 million and VND 670.82 billion. The projects have created jobs for 17,856 people.

 

The Management Board of Tay Ninh Industrial Park has applied the ‘on-the-spot one door’ mechanism to create more favourable conditions for investment attraction and facilitate business activities of enterprises. At the same time, the management board has promoted its co-operation with the Department of Transport, the Tay Ninh branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, the Department of Trade and Tourism and Tay Ninh Social Insurance, to boost the State management of local industrial parks. However, I think, is still too slow to amend and supplement the Government’s Decree 36/CP dated April 24, 1997, providing regulations on industrial parks, export processing zones and hi-tech zones. At present, many new problems have emerged and the relationship among authorised agencies on the State management of industrial parks has not been legalised. Accordingly, the relationship among agencies and its effectiveness remains different from one locality to another. The management board has not had powers to penalise those enterprises which violate the law. The law violation of enterprises could be repeated if State management agencies relied on education and encouragement of enterprises only.

 

Tapping the existing advantages, in its orientations throughout 2010, Tay Ninh province has promoted the development of the Trang Bang industrial park in a sustainable manner. The province has gradually formed and developed the Tram Vang industrial park along the trans-Asia highway. The province has made efforts to improve its investment environment. In the 2006-2010 period, Tay Ninh province will strive to increase the number of new projects to between 200 and 250 projects with a total capital of around US$400 million. The province has set a target of an export turnover of more than US$500 million for its industrial parks, which will generate jobs for 60,000 people. To that end, the Management Board of Tay Ninh Industrial Park will develop master plans for industrial parks and complexes throughout 2020, focusing on developing technical and social infrastructure outside industrial parks, ensuring that all industrial parks will have concentrated waste water treatment plants when they become operational. Also, the province will improve its investment environment and promote human resources development.

 

Tay Ninh is rich in high quality farm-produce materials. The province now produces more than 1.6 tonnes of sugarcane per annum, 800,000 tonnes of cassava, more than 70,000 tonnes of peanuts and more than 30,000 tonnes of rubber latex. In addition, Tay Ninh has young labour force, ready to meet the demand of industrial production. In particular, Tay Ninh is located within the key southern economic region with a 240 kilometre border line with Cambodia. The province has two border gate economic zones, Moc Bai and Xa Mat, with a section of the trans-Asia highway from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia via the international border gate of Moc Bai and eight industrial complexes, which have been built to receive projects.

 

In the coming time, apart from solutions for promoting Tay Ninh’s industry, particularly the farm-produce processing industry as a spearhead sector, the Tay Ninh Department of Industry has co-operated with local agencies to work out concrete solutions. Accordingly, the department will prioritise the reception and create the most favourable condition for investors with new projects on processing post-sugar, peanut and rubber products of high value from on the spot materials. Co-operation among producers, scientists and farmers will be promoted to ensure adequate high quality material supplies for production. In addition, favourable conditions in credit will be created for the development of material supply areas, the improvement the quality of farm-produce. Also, priorities will be given to encourage projects to renew their machines and equipment, modernising their technologies and building trademarks for local products.

 

The target of farmers is to gain the highest production effectiveness while the agricultural service’s target is to create the highest production value with the existing conditions of land, infrastructure, services and labour. At present, alongside the whole country agriculture’s tendency, Tay Ninh’s agriculture has experienced the self-sufficient period and begun a commodity-based production. This implies that agricultural products of Tay Ninh province should be developed in accordance with the development of the local and international markets. Therefore, to enter and find a foothold in the market, Tay Ninh’s farm-produce should have a certain competitiveness.

In order to develop competitiveness for farm-produce, such as seafood and meat, as well as to exploit best the comparative advantage of natural conditions, such as land and climate; the existing facilities, such as agricultural services, irrigation facilities, and rural infrastructure; and labour, I think from now and in the years to come, Tay Ninh agriculture should implement the following solutions: promoting scientific and technological application and mechanisation of production, and rural infrastructure development, developing co-operation mechanisms suitable with the existing conditions of local farmers.

 

Export turnover of Tay Ninh province saw an average increase of 34.2 per cent in the 2001-2005 period. However, from a point of view of turnover structure, the province’s exports are mainly unprocessed farm-produce, which accounted for 34 per cent in 2005. As a result, the competitiveness remains poor and it is difficult for the province to expand its export markets. Industrial products, despite accounting for 39 per cent, are outsourced textiles and garments, and footwear. Local enterprises cannot be active in seeking materials and export markets. Therefore, profits are not high.

 

To overcome these difficulties and to tap the province’s advantages, in the 2006-2010 period, the Tay Ninh Department of Trade and Tourism will concentrate on developing the local market, especially markets in remote and border gate areas, and promoting the export to Cambodia via its border gates. At the same time, local export processing enterprises will be given with assistance for improving the quality of their products by building trademarks and applying the international standards such as SA 8000 and ISO 14000. The service will build and implement trade promotion programmes, complete the building of trade and tourism websites, and form market information channels for enterprises.

 

In tourism, Tay Ninh has great potential with famous sites, such as the Ba Den mountain, Dau Tieng lake, the former base of Southern Party Central Bureau, the Cao Dai temple, the Lo Go-Xa Mat National Park. For further developing tourism, Tay Ninh is concentrating on building and implementing master plans for the service, investing in infrastructure facilities for tourist sites, boosting tourism promotion activities, developing human resources, calling for investment, developing cultural, festival and historical tours, as well as co-operating with neighbouring provinces to develop tours to Cambodia and caravan tours among Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.