Phu Yen Province Developing Open Economy to Attract more Resources

Phu Yen Province Developing Open Economy to Attract more Resources

Early this month, Phu Yen province organised an investment promotion conference in Ho Chi Minh City to call for investors. Also, on this occasion, Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Yen province signed an economic co-operation agreement, aimed in particular at the tourism sector.

Economic development in a more open space

Dao Tan Loc, chairman of the Phu Yen People’s Committee, said that local authorities had decided to develop its economy in a more open space. Accordingly, the province had worked with neighbouring localities, such as Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Binh Dinh and Khanh Hoa, on the promotion of their economic co-operation. At first, they built roads linking Phu Yen’s capital town with other localities. As a result, it takes three hours to drive from Tuy Hoa city in Phu Yen province, to Pleiku city in Gia Lai province, following the national highway N⁰ 25. This saves five hours’ driving time. Road N⁰ 645 linking Phu Lam town in Phu Yen province with Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, is being built and will open to traffic soon. It will also take three hours to travel from Phu Lam to Buon Ma Thuot. These are major roads, connecting Phu Yen province with the Central Highlands, Cambodia and Southern Laos. Loc said that Phu Yen province wanted to build a railway route from Tuy Hoa city to the Central Highlands to meet the increased transportation demand in the region. At the same time, Phu Yen province is co-operating with other localities in agriculture, industry, tourism and human resources development.

This strategy has been shown via the development of industrial parks in Phu Yen province. The North-eastern Cau River industrial park (IP) is located near Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh province, and just 15 kilometres away from the Quy Nhon seaport. This is considered as an ideal place for investors from Quy Nhon, who want to expand their production. The IP offers competitive land rent. The Hoa Hiep IP, located near Tuy Hoa city and the Vung Ro seaport, has recently become operational. The Van Phong bay, an international port, is situated near the national highways N⁰ 1A and 25. This is a convenient place for enterprises to import materials and export goods, as well as to promote trade. The dynamic economic zone of Southern Phu Yen and Northern Khanh Hoa is expected to see rapid development  in the near future.

Investment attraction promoted

Phu Yen province is implementing a ‘one door’ mechanism to simplify procedures, thus helping investors save time. In particular, local authorities are always ready to hold dialogues with investors, to help them overcome difficulties and enjoy favourable conditions. So far, the People’s Committee of Phu Yen province has issued investment encouragement policies based on concrete conditions in the province.

The development process in Phu Yen province has been divided into periods. This measure is suitable for Phu Yen, a locality with little resources. Two thirds of IPs in Phu Yen province have a large area. However, the province has divided the development of its IPs into a concrete period for concentrating investment to develop infrastructure facilities. As a result, the first phase of the Hoa Hiep IP (101 hectares) and the North-eastern Cau River IP (101 hectares) was completed and many investors have built their factories in the two IPs. Now, the province is accelerating the second phase to handle land for registered investors. Investors are already registered to use 100 per cent of the An Phu IP (with an area of 70 hectares) in Tuy Hoa city.

Tourism co-operation with HCM City         

Phu Yen province is home to many beautiful landscapes and historical relic sites of high value. The province has co-operated with Ho Chi Minh City, a famous tourism centre with great resources for development, to exploit this potential. The province and the Saigon Tourist Corporation (Saigontourist) have set up the Saigon-Phu Yen and Saigon-Song Cau tourism companies. Two hotels are under construction and will open in 2005. With assistance from Ho Chi Minh City and Saigontourist, Phu Yen province is promoting its potential to attract domestic and foreign holidaymakers and call for investors to build tourist facilities in Phu Yen province. Also, the province will co-operate with travel agencies in Vietnam to link the province in their tours and organise tourist events with local traditional festivals.

• Song Phuong