After more than 12 years of construction and development, Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) not only receives strong support from city leaders, specialists, and domestic and foreign businesses but also improves itself to become a reliable high-tech investment destination in the country. In an intimate meeting with Vietnam Business Forum, Mr Le Hoai Quoc, Director of SHTP Management Board, said, “To get closer to the goal of becoming a “city of science and technology”, the mindset and leader of science and technology of Ho Chi Minh City and country, in addition to our constant efforts for better investment efficiency and investment project quality, environmental protection is an issue of special concern.” Thanh Tam reports.
Could you please tell us high-tech investment attraction results after more than 12 years of construction and development?
After more than 12 years of operation, SHTP now has 77 active projects with a combined investment capital of more than US$4.4 billion, including 49 domestic projects with US$801 million and 31 foreign-invested projects with more than US$3.5 billion. In the first eight months of 2015, tenants in SHTP earned over US$2.93 billion from exports, up 68 percent over the same period of 2014.
Carrying out the guidance of the HCM City People's Committee from its very first days of operation, SHTP selectively attracted investment projects, focusing on well-reputed companies in the world. The objective was to attract about 10 strong brands into SHTP in 15 years. But, after just more than 12 years, 10 globally renowned brands have chosen SHTP to locate their projects and more than two thirds of them have gone into operation, thus helping the city to restructure the economy. Typically, Intel is manufacturing and assembling chipsets; Jabil of the United States produces electronic components; Nidec of Japan manufactures steam engines; and Datalogic of Italy turns out barcode readers. In October 2014, SHTP granted an investment certificate to Samsung Electronics Corporation to invest US$1.4 billion to build a 70-ha household electronic complex, called Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City Complex (SEHC). On May 19, Samsung Group officially started construction on the SEHC project, which is expected to go into production in the second quarter of 2016.
Return to the story of investment attraction, SHTP has refused a lot of investors when they wanted to build production facilities to assemble products, even high-tech products. I myself turned down Samsung’s project when I was learned that they planned to build factories to assemble products. But after long negotiations, Samsung agreed to invest in building R&D centre, data centre and localisation commitments and SHTP decided to award the investment licence to the South Korean group. This is a difference between SHTP with other industrial parks and export processing zones in the city.
How are living and working environments in SHTP protected?
As I mentioned above, the consciousness of environmental protection at SHTP is clearly evidenced by very strict rules in selecting investment projects. The SHTP pays special attention to appraising environmental impacts. Especially, in the current period, SHTP encourages and gives incentives for energy-saving and environment-friendly high-tech projects; and resolutely rejects projects potentially causing environmental pollution. Encouraging and attracting projects using renewable energy and modern energy-saving technology is also a direct way to contribute to environmental protection.
Together with building wastewater treatment plants, SHTP also places special emphasis on the formation of internal "green areas" by growing trees and building lakes. Specifically, 160 ha of out a total of 913 ha is used for greeneries and water surfaces, which help beautify the landscape, protect and balance the green, clean and fine production environment.
To effectively protect the surroundings, raising the awareness of tenants plays a vital role. What do you think about this? And, how has it been carried out in SHTP?
Quarterly, the SHTP Management Board organizes meetings with tenants to learn about their difficulties and problems emerging from production and business activities. We always remind them of environmental protection. In addition to raising the awareness of environmental protection, we at all times impose strict control over their production operations to ensure their environmental friendliness. In case of violating environmental protection regulations, they will be strictly fined to deter other tenants from committing violations.
With its serious efforts for environmental protection, up to the present time, SHTP has not found any serious environmental violations. Occasionally, we also find some tenants discharge excessive wastewater and correct them immediately.
Would you talk more about the plan to speed up infrastructure construction in the second phase which will be connected with the first phase to form a special economic and technical zone? Regarding environmental protection, how will the SHTP build the green space?
The second phase, covering 613 ha, is being carried out very promptly. Thanks to positive impacts of major projects in the SHTP, the second progress is going beyond expectations. Currently, two thirds of the rentable land area of the second phase has been allocated to tenants. Many investors are applying for renting the remaining area.
Since the project was launched, infrastructure connectivity is attached much importance, particularly technical infrastructure (electricity, water, gas, telecommunication networks). Unlike other industrial parks, SHTP does not have dump-sites. Thus, tenants must sign contracts with environmental services companies to carry their wastes out of SHTP. Besides, we are proposing the HCM City People’s Committee to socialise green area investment in SHTP, thus we will focus on attracting social resources for ecological space development. Our ultimate goal is to use greeneries not only to serve tenants but also generate greater values to surrounding communities and the city as a whole.
To realise the goal of becoming a leading tech hub of HCM City and the nation by 2020 and serve as a powerful arm to make HCM City a science and technology city of the country in the coming time, what will SHTP focus on?
In addition to the endeavour to form a high-tech production ecosystem, we are now focusing on attracting investment capital into the 93-ha science space in SHTP. Situated in the heart of SHTP, the science space zone is considered a leading light in scientific and technological development in SHTP and a differentiator to distinguish SHTP from other industrial parks and export processing zones in the city. Together with the science space park, SHTP will build a smart urban zone called Smart City to create a new stepping stone in attracting FDI into the semiconductor IC and life science and build a 200-district science park in Cu Lao Long Phuoc, District 9, HCM City.
Not only striving to become a leading scientific and technological centre of HCM City and Vietnam by 2020, SHTP also aims at a higher position - becoming a leading high-tech park in Southeast Asia and reaching the par of science parks and high-tech parks of countries in the region (except for Singapore).
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