By October last year 228 parks were licensed in 56 cities and provinces, and 145 had become operational, figures from the Ministry of Planning and Investment show.

The southeast region had the largest number, accounting for more than a third of them and 48 percent of their total area. Dong Nai Province ranked first with 28 parks, followed by Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City.

But government economist Vo Dai Luoc said it is “abnormal to see industrial parks being built everywhere.”

Since industrialization is mistakenly linked with the number of new industrial parks, almost all cities and provinces want to have them, Luoc said, calling the idea “unbelievable.”

Pham Chi Lan, a former economic advisor to the government, said Vietnam is an agricultural country and it is unreasonable for industrial parks to be found in every city and province. Some areas need to be strong in agriculture while others can develop industry, she said.

Even the Ministry of Planning and Investment has admitted there are too many industrial parks and the average occupancy rate at the parks is only 50-60 percent, she said.

“This is a huge waste but the question is why is it allowed to continue?”

Nguyen Van Nam, another economist, said it is possible that local governments build industrial parks just to flaunt them and to lay their hands on government funds earmarked for public infrastructure.

Nguyen Quang A, also an economist, feared that some industrial parks act as a cover for what is really real estate trading. That would explain why they do not have proper plans, he said.

Dao Cong Tien, former president of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics University, said it is necessary to develop industrial parks since some of them have proved effective.

However, cities and provinces should not keep building them at random, he said, pointing out that there must be planning at a national level.

“It is unacceptable if we have to sacrifice agriculture for industrial parks, or sacrifice forests for industrialization,” he said.

But the fact is that more and more land is being taken over for industrial parks. According to the Hanoi-based Land Science Association, an average of 74,000 hectares of farmland is lost every year to urban and industrial zones.

With a further 91 industrial parks being planned around the country in the next five years, 20,839 hectares of land will have to be set aside.

In the Mekong Delta, the largest cultivated area in the country, more than 8,500 hectares of farmland is set to be turned into industrial parks by 2020.

The impact on farmers can already be seen clearly.

Nguyen Van An of Can Tho City said he and other fruit farmers have stopped growing oranges since a plan to build a new industrial park in his area was announced in 2005.

“We can’t keep spending a lot of money and time on the orchards because we don’t know when we will be displaced. We don’t even know if we can harvest the crop.”

“Residents keep waiting for their compensation while investors delay their projects until the residents can’t wait any longer and have to accept low payments,” he said.

Economist Lan said the development of industrial parks is not being done in a transparent manner, leaving many displaced residents in the dark.

“If rules are followed strictly, investors whose projects remain stalled for several years must return land back to their owners and compensate them,” she said.

Luoc said almost everything is wrong with industrial parks – they are small, technologies are out of date, their environment is polluted, and workers get low salaries.

If more industrial parks are developed in this manner, they would not only be unhelpful for the economy but also cause social risks, he said.

“Workers will be discontent with low salaries, farmers with land issues, and society with the damage to the environment. All this discontent will translate into risks to social stability.”

He has asked the government to either stop licensing industrial parks completely or only allow large parks of more than 1,000 hectares, he said.

“Large parks mean many small and unfit investors will be eliminated,” he said.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien/TBKTSG