The Southern Key Economic Zone plays an important role in the socio-economic development of the country (Photo: VNA) HCMCity (VNS/VNA) – The Southern Key Economic Zone needs speciallytailored policies to attract large amounts of foreign direct investment andimprove linkages between localities to ensure sustainable development, expertshave said.
The zone comprises HCM City and the provinces of Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Binh Duong,Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, and Tien Giang.
It attracts a lot of FDI, in fact half of the entire amount coming into thecountry.
It also accounts for 45 percent of the nation’s GDP, 42 percent of theGovernment’s revenues and more than 40 percent of exports.
But its technical and social infrastructure fall short of requirements, andthis kept large FDI projects (of above 100 million USD) away last year, expertssaid.
There was only one such investment last year when Hong Kong’s TechtronicIndustries invested 650 million USD in a project in the Saigon Hi-tech Park inHCM City.
The company’s chairman, Horst Julius Pudwill, unveiled plans to set up a plantand an R&D centre with the target of making Vietnam the new manufacturingbase.
It plans to make products for exports and set up training schools to improvethe quality of the Vietnamese engineers.
It hopes its investment will be a basis for companies in itssupply chain to relocate to Vietnam.
The plant will manufacture hand-held power tools with integrated technology fordesigning and manufacturing control devices and electronic transformers.
It will hire more than 7,400 people, including 500 in researchand development.
Binh Duong province, which saw FDI increase by 49 percent to 3 billion USD inthe first 11 months of last year, however had only one large project, a 171million USD plant built by Japan’s NTT group.
Dr Du Phuoc Tan, head of the HCM City Institute for Development Studies’ urbanmanagement and research division, said the zone needs huge sums of money everyyear to develop its road infrastructure, but does not get them from theGovernment.
The Ministry of Transport estimates that around 300 trillion VND (12.9 billionUSD) is needed to develop the road infrastructure.
Tan said policies for financing traffic links between the city and provincesare inadequate.
A transport development plan for the region envisages building more newexpressways such as between Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province and Vung Tau in Ba Ria-VungTau province, between HCM City and Binh Phuoc province’s Chon Thanh districtthrough Binh Duong province’s Thu Dau Mot city, between Long An province’s BenLuc district and Dong Nai’s Long Thanh district, and between HCM City and the MocBai international border gate in Tay Ninh province.
Many waterway transport projects are expected to be added to the plan.
With its leading role, HCM Cityhas proposed many solutions to mobilise capital not only for itself but alsothe entire zone.
In 2010 it decided to establish the HCM City Financial Investment Company(HFIC).
The HFIC has attracted investment in major infrastructure projects in the cityand provided credit worth 14 trillion VND for 131 infrastructure projects.
It has also effectively managed a large amount of funds from the city for powergrid renovation, science and technology development, IT human resourcesdevelopment, and pollution reduction.
It has also given loans worth 2.064 trillion VND to social andpolitical organisations.
Binh Duong province hopes to attract investment by creating a conducivebusiness environment.
It has greatly improved road infrastructure to improve connectivity with HCMCity and nearby provinces, developed concentrated industrial zones andattracted workers from other provinces and cities around the country./.
VNA
