Ben Tre province has made a striking success in investment attraction because of its better infrastructure, high quality of human resources and dedication of authorities at all levels. The province has also applied many preferential policies, reformed administrative procedures, and provided practical supports for businesses. Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Mr Nguyen Hoa Nghia, Deputy Director of Ben Tre Department of Planning and Investment, on the province’s investment attraction. Ha Linh reports.
Could you tell us about the results of investment attraction of Ben Tre province in the first quarter in 2012?
In the face of economic slowdown, Ben Tre province still made impressive results in investment attraction, with specific outcomes as follows:
In the first quarter of 2012, the Department of Planning and Investment and other agencies received 14 investor delegations from other provinces in the country and other countries in around the world. They came to explore opportunities of investment cooperation, investment procedures, available locations survey, preference policies and human resources in the province. Foreign investors were from Japan, Belgium, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia and Thailand while domestic investors were primarily from Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang province. They mainly surveyed seafood and cocoa processing industries, fish feed production, fabrics and apparel production, automotive gearbox assembly, hi-tech shrimp culturing, traffic, commercial and urban zone development. The province hosted an investor conference in search of investment capital for projects in industrial zones. More than 100 domestic and foreign businesses attended the event where four new investors registered to invest US$48.9 million in the province, thus raising the total number of FDI projects to 39 with a combined registered investment value of US$298.57 million. Giao Long and An Hiep industrial parks are favoured favourite destinations for foreign investors. Besides, sSix other foreign investors said they needed would take more time to consider fresh investment in the province.
What are Ben Tre province’s potential strengths in investment attraction?
Ben Tre is a province in the Mekong Delta, bordered by the East Sea, formed by three lines of isles, namely Bao, Minh and An Hoa. It receives alluvium deposits As it is deposited by alluvium throughout the year, what makes making the soil very fertile for commercialised agricultural and aquaculture production. Gardening Crop and sea-based economies are major advantages that the province has focused to on developing in the past years. It has set up specialised farming areas to produce specialty fruits like rambutan, mangosteen, durian, green-skin pomelo and mango and others. Many kinds have been exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and China. Its fruit brand names have initially set up gained a good foothold in the Southeast Asian and EU markets. Ben Tre is also well-known for ornamental plants, primarily grown in Cho Lach district. The province is also called the coconut kingdom of coconut. This key industrial crop is planted grows on 52,467 hectares and is pricked bears 413.278 million fruits a year. This is a major resource for the local processing industry and handicraft production.
In addition, Ben Tre has a more than 65-km coastline, very convenient for diversified and comprehensive marine economic development, including commercial fishing, port services, shipping and tourism. The river system is interlaced and interspersed with water-borne ecosystems and fruit-laden orchards. The province also has good cultural and historic characteristics for tourism development, particularly a model combining ecological tourism with cultural and historical tourism. Currently, the central government is funding a project of on preserving, restoring and promoting historical values of Ho Chi Minh trail at sea. This very big project is of great historic significance.
To attract more investors, what incentive policies does Ben Tre province have to attract more investors?
To attract both domestic and foreign investors, the province has introduced a number of preferential policies, particularly the following three policies. The incentive policy for industrial zone infrastructure investment (Decision 25/2011/QD-UBND dated on September 29, 2011 of the Provincial People's Committee) provides land-use incentives. Investors are subject to 0.75 percent of land prices stipulated by the Provincial People’s Committee on an annual basis in over 5 years. After basic construction is completed and investment projects are put into operation, they will be exempted land rent is exempted in for the next 7-15 years. Investors are also granted other financial supports for site clearance (20 percent of investment costs), construction (VND3 billion per industrial complex, sourced funded by the State Budget) and detailed planning (VND350 million per industrial complex).
The second is the policy on incentives for infrastructure construction in industrial zones (Decision 32/2011/QD-UBND dated on November 11, 2011 of the Provincial People's Committee). This specifies incentives concerning land lease, tax and residential and resettlement construction, site clearance and infrastructure outside the fence of industrial zones (traffic, electricity, water, telecommunications networks, etc). The lease term is at most 70 years. Rent rate is equal to 0.75 percent of land prices stipulated by the Provincial People’s Committee on an annual basis in over 5 years. In addition, the province will also support inviting secondary investors to locate their projects in industrial zones. It will also build water supply systems and electrical grids inside industrial zones, support them with human resource training and recruitment.
Investment incentive policies are an important factor for the province to attract more investors. And, a favourable investment and business environment is also important for businesses.
How would you describe administrative reform in Ben Tre?
Ben Tre is actively accelerating administrative reform and regarding it as a way to help businesses. The province urges all administrative bodies to reform paperwork procedures, particularly in the fields where investors are required to work with. The province has issued a set of new administrative procedures (according to Decision 650/QD-UNBD April 10, 2012) to lay the framework for administrative procedure reform. And, in the second quarter of 2012, it will promulgate investment process and single-window mechanism regulation. These new regulations together with investment incentive policies will help investors save time working with administrative procedures. Expectedly, the time will is expected to be 5 - 10 days shorter 5 - 10 days than the centrally set duration standard.
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