From the first industrial park in Ho Chi Minh City, how is this market after 30 years?

295 industrial parks with nearly 52,000 hectares of land leased

Ms. Vuong Thi Minh Hieu, Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Zones Management, Ministry of Planning and Investment, presented many remarkable figures on the development of the industrial park (IP) market over the past 30 years, at the forum "Vietnam Industrial Park 2023" organized by Investor Magazine .

In 1991, the first industrial park was established in Ho Chi Minh City (Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone). By the end of October, the country had 413 established industrial parks (including 369 industrial parks outside economic zones (EZs), 37 industrial parks located in coastal EZs, and 7 industrial parks located in border gate EZs). The total industrial land area reached about 87,700 hectares.

Of the established industrial parks, 295 have come into operation with a total land area of about 63,000 hectares. The total leased industrial land area of industrial parks nationwide is about 51,800 hectares, reaching an occupancy rate of about 57.8%. If we only count the industrial parks that have come into operation, the occupancy rate is about 72.9%.

Từ khu công nghiệp đầu tiên tại TPHCM, thị trường này ra sao sau 30 năm? - 1 — Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone - the first industrial park project in Vietnam (Photo: Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone).

The earliest established border gate economic zone for pilot purposes was Mong Cai border gate economic zone (Quang Ninh province). To date, 26 border gate economic zones have been established in 21 provinces and centrally-run cities with land borders, with a total area of 766,000 hectares. The border gate economic zones have attracted over 300 investment projects with a total registered investment capital of about 83,000 billion VND and over 1 billion USD.

Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (Quang Nam province) is the first coastal economic zone established in 2003. Up to now, the whole country has had 18 coastal economic zones established with a total area of 857,600 hectares (including sea surface area), of which about 141,900 hectares have been planned to develop functional areas.

By the end of October, about 64,400 hectares of functional land, agricultural, forestry and fishery land, and technical infrastructure land had been built. Of which, the total land area leased for production investment projects reached about 21,500 hectares.

Up to now, the system of industrial parks and economic zones nationwide is present in 61/63 provinces and cities, attracting a large amount of investment capital. Implementing the National Strategy on Green Growth for the periods 2012-2020 and 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, the National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in recent times, a number of industrial parks have been piloted to convert from traditional models to ecological industrial parks, linking industrial activities with environmental protection.

In these converted industrial zones, enterprises have participated in cleaner production and efficient use of resources, and cooperation in production has emerged to implement industrial symbiosis. The four pilot converted industrial zones include Khanh Phu Industrial Zone, Gian Khau Industrial Zone in Ninh Binh, Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone in Da Nang and Tra Noc Industrial Zone 1&2 in Can Tho.

Since 2020, the eco-industrial park model has been replicated in three more localities: Hai Phong, Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, within the framework of cooperation with other international organizations, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is currently supporting the construction of eco-industrial parks in Binh Duong, implementing water circulation networks for some industrial parks with a high concentration of textile and garment activities in Hung Yen, Thua Thien Hue, etc.

Elements to be completed

Also at the forum, expert Can Van Luc said that through research and surveys from investors, he has drawn 10 main difficulties in developing industrial parks. Of which, the top difficulty is administrative and legal procedures. First of all, administrative procedures are still overlapping and unclear.

Decree 35 of the Government on the development of industrial parks is a radical step, but somewhere there are some unclear criteria, such as when talking about urban service areas, how a business envisions it is still very difficult. Therefore, businesses really need detailed guidance.

Next is the conversion from existing industrial parks to urban service industrial parks. Enterprises are interested in preferential mechanisms, land pricing mechanisms, and land rents. In the past 2-3 years, many enterprises wanted to pay but have not been able to do so.

Another difficulty that Mr. Luc mentioned is decentralization and authorization, which is something the Prime Minister really wants. Although there have been certain results, there are still problems. Finally, many investors want a "handbook" to guide the investment process, which is easy to understand and publicly available online in both Vietnamese and English versions.

Mr. Kasahara Masayuki, Chief Representative of JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City, said that Vietnam needs to have regulations with a set of common standards as well as specific criteria for green industrial parks and ecological industrial parks. In Thailand, Japan and some countries that JICA has supported, it shows that there needs to be coordination between the Government and industrial park representatives to develop this set of criteria.

This requires the coordination of many ministries and sectors to provide comprehensive solutions, and appropriate actions are also needed to access foreign investment capital into industrial parks. Vietnam needs an integrated system to have a system of regulations, guidelines, and inspections to see if it meets the criteria for an ecological industrial park, said a JICA representative.

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