In recent years, Thua Thien Hue province-based economic and industrial zones have utilized their advantages of economic geographic location, available raw materials and improved infrastructure systems, plus many preferential mechanisms and policies and reasonable rents, to become a top choice of investors. Tasked to manage and provide public administrative services and supporting services for investors, the Management Board of Thua Thien Hue Economic and Industrial Zones always accompanies and supports investment projects in the province. The following is the interview of Vietnam Business Forum Magazine with Mr. Le Van Tue, Director of Thua Thien Hue Economic and Industrial Zones Authority.
Could you briefly introduce the local potential, particularly your remarkable incentive mechanisms and policies for investors?
Situated on the Central Coast, Thua Thien Hue province has six industrial parks with a total area of nearly 2,400 ha and Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone covering an area of 27,108 ha.
Thua Thien Hue province-based industrial parks in general and Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone in particular are located in favorable positions with National Highway 1A and North-South Railway passing through. Chan May deep-water seaport is the nearest gateway of the East - West Economic Corridor to the East Sea, capable of receiving cargo ships of up to 50,000 DWT and the world's cruise liners (225,000 GT). In addition, Thua Thien Hue province has Phu Bai International Airport, the Complex of Hue Monuments, the Royal Court Music recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage, and Lang Co Beach - one of 30 most beautiful bays of the world. The province is also a cultural and tourism center, an intensive medical center, and a high-quality general training center of the country. In recent years, the transport infrastructure system has been invested, especially the upgrading and expansion of 4-lane National Highway 1A, and the construction of Phuoc Tuong and Phu Gia road tunnels, to connect economic and industrial zones with other localities in the region.
When investing in Chan May - Lang Co Economic Zone and industrial zones in the province, investors enjoy preferential tax and land policies applied to localities of particularly difficult socioeconomic conditions. Projects are entitled to investment support policies, including ready infrastructure (traffic, power supply, water supply, wastewater treatment facilities), ground clearance, demining clearance, labor training and investment promotion. In particular, with the one-site, single-window mechanism, investors will be supported to deal with administrative procedures at the Management Board of Thua Thien Hue Economic and Industrial Zones in a shorter time than the regulatory timeframe.
Given these advantages and preferential investment policies, economic and industrial zones have to date housed 142 valid projects with total registered capital of VND94,500 billion, including 31 FDI projects with VND62,111 billion and 111 DDI projects with VND32,395 billion. Many projects are invested by prestigious investors such as: Banyan Tree Group (Singapore), Saigon Investment Group, Minh Vien International Joint Stock Company, Phuong Trang Group, Kim Long Nam Group, Carlsberg Group, Scavi Group and Shanghai Baosteel Group.
How do you assess outcomes of investment attraction and operations of enterprises in Thua Thien Hue province?
Thanks to some advantages as mentioned above, especially the administrative reform advocated by the Management Board of Thua Thien Hue Economic and Industrial Zones, investment attraction results have increased rapidly over the years. The total effective investment capital registered in economic and industrial zones was VND64,959 billion at the end of 2017 and it came to VND90,973 billion at the end of 2018 (up 89.9%). In 2019, the value was expected at VND10 trillion.
Over the past years, business performance of tenants in economic and industrial zones has been quite stable and growing. Their revenue, profit, export value and budget payment have all grown. Specifically, in 2018, 195 active tenants reported combined revenue of VND25,920 billion, up 10.8% compared to 2017; industrial production value of VND18,556 billion, up 12.8%; export value of US$710 million, up 10%; and tax payment value of VND2,378 billion, up 11.6%. They employed 30,000 workers.
Currently, some localities are accelerating investment promotion to woo big enterprises and projects carrying advanced technology and high investment value. How about Thua Thien Hue province?
In recent years, Thua Thien Hue province has stepped up investment promotion to court large enterprises and projects registering advanced technology and high investment value. Specifically, Laguna Lang Co Project of Banyan Tree Group (Singapore) registered to invest US$2 billion; Saigon Invest Group invested VND2,583 billion to build infrastructure in Saigon Chan May Industrial Park and Nontariff Area; Kim Long Nam Group invested VND3,330 billion in its automobile manufacturing and assembling project; Carlsberg Grop invested VND1,978 billion in beer and non-alcoholic beverage production project; Scavi Group invested VND250 billion in ready-made garment and high-class underwear production project; and Shanghai Baosteel Group invested VND1,855 billion in a beer can production project.
Drawing big investors with large-scale projects powered by advanced technologies will create opportunities and incentives to promote socioeconomic development, minimize environmental impacts, and avoid progress delays resulting from investors lacking ability.
Vietnamese
