Nam Dinh: Renovation for Open Business Environment

3:36:18 PM | 30/12/2014

Nam Dinh province has made remarkable progress in administration reform and applied a lot of mechanisms and policies to build an open business environment. To learn more about this issue, Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Mr Ha Lan Anh, Deputy General Director of Nam Dinh Department of Planning and Investment. Duy Anh reports.
 
International economic integration process, economic recovery and infrastructure development has provided Nam Dinh province with good opportunities to draw investment capital. How do you assess this?
Nam Dinh province has three outstanding advantages, namely agriculture (including fisheries, marine economy in a broader sense), garment - textile and human resources. These will be three main pillars for the province to improve competitiveness as the national economy is recovering and international integration is deepening.
 
In agriculture, with vast, flat and fertile arable land, Nam Dinh can develop specialised areas for rice, vegetable and food crop growing. The province is calling for investment into commercial fishing, aquaculture and processing to exploit its 72-km coastline and vast fishing ground. Currently, some partners from other countries like Japan and Israel visited and signed cooperation agreements on some projects. Once going into operation, these projects will create a strong boost for agriculture and rural development. The province is attracting investment capital, techniques and technologies for commercial agricultural development.
 
Garment and textile production is an inherent strength of Nam Dinh province, with a lot of production companies from various economic sectors. The province was permitted by the Government to build the 600-ha Rang Dong Garment and Textile Zone in Nghia Hung district, which costs hundreds of millions of US dollars. Aimed to create a complete production chain from spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing and finishing to support projects (labels, tags and packages), the project will create new momentum for the garment - textile industry to accelerate.
 
Nam Dinh also has abundant human resources, particularly trained workers. Nam Dinh people are diligent, hardworking, studious and dynamic. Despite economic slowdown, local companies dynamically overcame difficulties to maintain operations. By the end of 2014, the province has over 5,000 businesses, with total registered capital of nearly VND40 trillion.
 
The Government allowed Nam Dinh to build nine industrial parks on 2,082 ha. Three are operational, including Hoa Xa, My Trung and Bao Minh. These industrial parks are situated in favourable locations. Nam Dinh is one of the first provinces to upgrade medium-voltage lines from 11KV to 22KV. The province is also 47 professional training units capable of training 42,000 people each year.
 
Could you please tell us the outstanding results in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the province in recent years?
In 2014, Nam Dinh province licensed nine new projects and allowed three projects to increase their investment capital by US$131 million. The province had 52 valid FDI projects with a total registered capital of US$399 million as of December 2014. Processing and manufacturing industry drew 46 projects and US$373 million, accounting for 88.46 per cent of projects and 93.41 per cent of capital. The rest went to wholesaling, retailing, real estate, agriculture, forestry and fishery. Among 12 countries and territories investing in the province, South Korea took the lead with 18 projects and US$142 million (35.7 per cent of total capital), followed by China with 10 projects and US$92 million (23.1 per cent) and Japan with five projects and US$59 million (14.8 per cent). Typical projects include Yulun Co., Ltd (US$68 million), Youngone Company (US$48 million), and TCE Vina Denim Company (US$31 million).
 
In general, the FDI attraction of the province was modest. It ranked 41st out of 63 provinces and cities in the country. FDI projects have an average investment capital of US$7.67 million, lower than the national average of US$14.45 million. They mainly use conventional technologies, employ low-skilled labour and have limited contribution to economic development.
 
Would you mind telling us the investment attraction orientations of Nam Dinh province for the coming time?
Nam Dinh is attracting more than US$4 billion for 21 key projects. Infrastructure investment for Ninh Co Economic Zone and Thinh Long Port construction will require US$1 billion each. The province advocates a variety of investment forms like BOT, PPP and TBD.
 
After the Government approved the plan, the province sped up infrastructure construction of Rang Dong Textile - Dyeing Industrial Complex to attract secondary investors, which are expected to recruit 200,000 workers. Investment projects are expected to focus on auto parts, electronics and electricity, agricultural equipment and machinery, and high-tech seafood processing. At present, the province is completing negotiations for the construction of 2,400-MW Hai Hau power plant with a total investment capital of US$4.5 billion in Hai Hau district. The project is expected to be started in 2015.
 
To facilitate investment projects, Nam Dinh is pushing up the construction of industrial parks. In July 2014, the Nam Dinh Investment Promotion Centre under the Department of Planning and Investment was established with the function of promoting investment and supporting businesses and investors. Nam Dinh has also stepped up administrative procedure reform and applied ISO 2008 standards to all administrative procedures settlement. In addition, the province has a lot of support for businesses to maintain and expand production and business operations, seek markets and attend investment promotion events and trade fairs to search for and expand markets.
 
As an advisor on investment attraction to the Provincial People's Committee, how has the Department of Planning and Investment endeavoured in administrative procedure reform?
Administrative procedure is an important content in the overall administration reform programme of the Department of Planning and Investment in the 2010-2020 period. To boost information transparency, the department publicly posts and publishes administrative procedures to its website for citizens and businesses to look up. The department has also applied ISO900:2008 quality management system to its subordinates.
 
The department is determined to reform its administration to create a more open investment and business environment for investors.
 
The list of projects in need of investment capital in 2016-2020
Project
Scale
Partner
Capital
Million USD
Auto parts production and assembly
3 ha
FDI, joint venture
21
Electronic and electric device production
10 ha
FDI, joint venture
100
Electronic, computer and software production
3 ha
FDI, joint venture
50
Agricultural equipment and machine production
5 ha
FDI, joint venture
15
Mechanical product production
3 ha
FDI, joint venture
15
Accessory production for garment industry
10 ha
FDI, joint venture
50
High-tech aquatic processing and farming
50 ha
FDI, joint venture
20
High-tech agricultural product and food processing and farming
10 ha
FDI, joint venture
10
Phu Giay - Cho Vieng ecological tourist site
5 ha
FDI, joint venture
10
Xuan Thuy National Park ecological tourist site
2000 ha
FDI, others
50
Amusement park
50 ha
FDI, joint venture
20
Rang Dong tourist site
200 ha
FDI, joint venture
50
University complex
150 ha
FDI, joint venture
200
Infrastructure for Ninh Co Economic Zone
13.950 ha
Any
1.000
Infrastructure for My Thuan Industrial Park
170 ha
FDI, joint venture
30
Infrastructure for Hong Tien Industrial Park
195 ha
FDI
40
Infrastructure for Rang Dong Garment - Textile Industrial Complex
1.500 ha
FDI, joint venture
100
Infrastructure for My Trung Industrial Park
150 ha
FDI, joint venture
20
Thermal power plant construction
2,400 MW
BOT
4.500
Road construction from Cao Bo to Ninh Co Economic Zone
40km
BOT, PPP, ODA, State
250
Thinh Long Port construction
4.5 million tonnes/year
BOT, PPP, ODA, State
1.000
Source: Department of Planning and Investment