Hanoi (VNA) - The National Assembly’sStanding Committee discussed a draft Law on Special Administrative EconomicUnits on April 16 with a focus on preferential policies to attract investment.

The units include Van Don in the northernprovince of Quang Ninh, Bac Van Phong in the coastal central province of KhanhHoa and Phu Quoc in the southern province of Kien Giang.

Chairman of the NA’s Law Committee Nguyen KhacDinh said tax incentive policies for these zones, as regulated in the draftlaw, strictly followed the Politburo’s direction to ensure they can competewith other zones in the world and draw investment.

Most of tax incentives drafted in the law areapplied during a limited period, and applied for investment projects of sectorsthat are prioritised for development and needed to draw investment in theinitial period when the special zones are built, he said.

The three special zones defined building andsupplying tourism and entertainment services, including casinos, as one of theprojects prioritised for development and investment attraction, according to Dinh.

Dinh said it is a multi-functional complexproject that required huge investment capital, at a minimum of 44 trillion VND(1.93 billion USD), so it needed preferential policies relating to tax and landlease fees to draw investment and ensure international competition.

However, he added that the project would bringin high economic profits and be attractive to investors so it needed carefulstudy and consideration about preferential policies in order to not cause lossto the State budget in the long-term period.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said thecompiling board should carefully study the policies to ensure equality for bothforeign and domestic investors to create an equal environment for allbusinesses to join.

NA Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien stressed thatthe main target of the establishment of the three special zones is to createeconomic driving force and promote the competitive advantages of each zone sothe efficiency must be put on the top.

“How will these zones bring in profits for thecountry? How will the results be in the long-term period?” he said, adding thecompiling board needed to study specific resources in order to ensure thefeasibility.

He also highlighted the need to carefullycalculate and make sure there are reasonable preferential policies, includingtax reduction and exemption, to avoid creating burden for the State budget.

Some deputies also said it was necessary to makeclear “special” criteria for these zones.

The administrations of these three zones,according to the draft, will be established differently than other local administrations,consisting of people’s committees and people’s councils.

Regarding land lease, Dinh said the regulationson the draft law were amended, in which chairmen of the people’s committees ofthe special zones can grant land lease for production and business up to amaximum of 70 years. In special cases, the land lease could last up to 90 yearsbut must be decided by the Prime Minister.-VNA