Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park in Nha Be district of HCM City. The city has 17 export processing zones and industrial zones with a total area of more than 2,570ha (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - Toattract more investment, especially from overseas, Ho Chi Minh City needs torenovate and reform its export processing zones (EPZs) and industrialparks (IPs), said Tran Quang Truong, General Director of Tan Binh IndustrialPark.
Their infrastructure, mostlybuilt in the 1990s, had deteriorated, especially wastewater treatmentfacilities, with a number of central wastewater treatment systems being foundto violate environmental regulations, Truong said at a workshop last week.
Many companies seeking to expandcould not find enough land for lease in them and rentals were too high comparedto EPZs and IPs in neighbouring provinces. Roads near EPZs and IPs are oftenoverloaded, leading to higher production costs for their tenants and reducingtheir competitiveness, said Tran Trong Tien, a representative of enterprises inTan Thuan Export Processing Zone.
Other problems included flooding,lack of schools, accommodation and medical facilities for workers and theirfamilies, Tien said.
The limited availability ofskilled IT and management personnel was also an issue. To address theseproblems, administrative procedures related to investment, labour andconstruction in the EPZs and IPs needed to be simplified to attractforeign investment.
The quality of life and workingenvironment for workers needed to be improved.
Dao Xuan Duc, deputy head of theHCM City Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks Authority (Hepza),said the city would make all EPZs and IPs green, clean and hi-tech by 2025 andbuild new hi-tech zones for supporting industries.
The city targeted having 23 EPZsand IPs with an area of around 6,000ha by 2020. Prioritywould be given to current investors in hi-tech and parts supply industries with highvalue-addition.
The city is losing its advantagesover neighbouring provinces, and one of the main reasons is its high landrental rates.
The average rental in its EPZsand IPs is 125 USD per meter square for a period of 40-50 years. In comparison,the figure is 74 USD in Dong Nai province, 76 USD in Long An and 43.7 USD in BinhDuong.
The city needs to improve theefficiency of land use to reduce rentals and also strengthen linkages withother zones in the southern region, Trinh Ngoc Vu an expert ineconomics said.
Last year the city’s EPZs and IPsattracted 772.3 million USD in investment, but only 290.8 million USD worth offoreign investment, a drop of 25.8 percent from 2017, according to Hepza.
Most projects were intechnology-oriented industries, including food processing, chemical-rubber,information technology, and supporting industries./.
VNA
