The symposium was organised to collect opinions on a draft policy to support the development of small industrial zones which the ministry expected to submit to the Government for approval later this year.

The nation now had approximately 1,870 small industrial zones of less than 50ha, but with an overall combined area of 76,520ha, according to the ministry.

The Government already offered incentives to lure investors into these zones, but infrastructure construction remained slow and only about 26 per cent of the total area of each park was occupied, said Le Quoc Hop, managing director of the ministry’s local industrial department.

Many of the zones were located in rural areas with poor infrastructure, and the zones were only successful at attracting small- and medium-sized enterprises, co-operatives and handicrafts makers, Hop said.

Currently, 21 provinces in the Central Highlands, central region and northern mountainous region were receiving support from the State budget to build industrial zone infrastructure, pursuant to the two decisions issued by the Prime Minister in 2008.

Incentives

The support, at an average of just VND6 billion (US$316,000) per each 50-ha park, is rather small, accounted for only about 6 per cent of the total investment in any particular industrial zone.

About 40 provinces also offered incentives to investors to support infrastructure development, but the resources of these provinces were limited, and current incentives were not sufficient to attract investors willing to inject capital into the development of industrial park infrastructure.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hai Nam suggested that State budget support for infrastructure construction should be raised to about VND20 billion for each park and that provinces should provide another VND100 billion.

He also said the State should support the development of a master plan for these zones.

The ministry’s draft policy, which would seek Governmental approval for preferential policies similar to those applied to larger industrial parks under the Law on Investment and Government Decree No 108/2006/ND-CP, would give priority to developing larger parks with areas of at least 60-65,000ha, as well as address environmental protection standards for the parks.

The ministry has estimated that a total of about VND100 trillion was needed for infrastructure construction in these parks and that such investment would generate about 900,000 jobs.

Source: VietNamNet/Viet Nam News