Industrial Parks: Economic Spearhead

The two industrial parks in An Giang province cover nearly 200 ha, in which Binh Long Industrial Park has nearly 30 ha in the first phase in Chau Phu district and Binh Hoa Industrial Park has 132 ha in Chau Thanh district. Geographically, Binh Long Industrial Park, only 49 km from the Vietnam-Cambodia border, has a river port capable of serving ships of 3,000 tonnes.

 

Binh Hoa Industrial Park is about 15 km from Long Xuyen City, 20 km from My Thoi seaport and 85 km from Can Tho City, the largest economic hub in the Mekong Delta region. My Thoi port is capable of accommodating ships of 5,000 tonnes at present and vessels of 10,000 tonnes in the near future. Both of the parks are in the Long Xuyen Rectangle where there are rich sources of agricultural and aquatic materials. They are designed for industries of the local advantage like agricultural and aquatic product processing and apparel production.

 

Based on local potential and strengths, An Giang province encourages the investment in aquatic product processing, fish feed processing, animal feed production and agricultural product processing in Binh Long Industrial Park while Binh Hoa Industrial Park is designed for apparel and footwear production, food processing, agricultural machine assembly and production, consumer goods production, construction material production and interior decoration production.

From 2010 to 2020, An Giang province will expand Binh Long Industrial Park by an addition of 150 ha and Binh Hoa Industrial Park by also 150 ha and invest in the 500-ha Vam Cong Industrial Park and another one covering 100 ha in Cho Moi district to accelerate the process of industrialisation and modernisation. At present, three investors of construction material production are operating in Binh Hoa Industrial Park while Binh Long Industrial Park expects to see two seafood processing plants to be put into operation at the end of 2009.

 

To date, the infrastructure at Binh Long Industrial Park has been basically completed. The management board is focusing on completing the infrastructure construction in Binh Hoa Industrial Park in 2010 as scheduled. Currently, 22 investors registered to lease 77 ha in Binh Hoa Industrial Park, in which four have built plants and three started operations. Six investors registered to rent 19 ha in Binh Long Industrial Park, in which four are building their plants.

 

According to the An Giang Industrial Zones Authority, in 2010, companies in the two industrial parks will create a combined industrial production value of over VND500 billion in 2010.

 

Investors in Binh Long and Binh Hoa industrial parks are enjoying a lot of preferences in corporate income tax (20 percent of corporate income tax in 10 years, tax exemption in the first two years from the profit-making fiscal year and 50 percent discount in the next four years. The tax rate is 25 percent when incentives are over), land lease (free land rental from seven to 11 years, depending on the nature of investment projects), import tax (free tax on goods to create fixed assets, goods to manufacture for foreign contractors), export tariff (0 percent tax is imposed on processed agricultural and aquatic products, apparels, sports shoes, plastic household goods, metal packages, ploughs, combine harvesters, etc exported to other nations).

 

Implementing the one-door policy, the An Giang Industrial Zones Authority is now processing all investment procedures. Investors only need to submit applications to the authority and receive from it. An official said the authority has coordinated and cooperated with local authorities and related branches to complete investment applications in the quickest manner. For instance, the licensing of projects with a total investment capital of VND300 billion will be decided in at most 10 days, five days for seal granting, five days for tax code and seven days for fire prevention verification, etc.

 

Hai Nguyen