Amendment of decree to renew industrial zones

Vietnam should develop policies to promote foreign direct investment (FDI). Decree 82 needs to be revised towards a more open and more robust direction to attract FDI.

Contribute ideas at the seminar “Comments on draft amendments to Decree 82/2018/ND-CP on the management of industrial zones and economic zones” held recently by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). Businesses agreed with the new points of the draft and said that although the new regulations were more precise and more complete related to the establishment and adjustment of industrial parks, some issues were still not appropriate. In case, it should be clarified to create favorable conditions for investors.

Limitation of land area and full rate

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Lien, General Director of WHA Industrial Zone Nghe An Joint Stock Company, the regulation on the area limitation of each phase is “no more than 500 hectares” between the draft and the Investment Law. The Law on Investment does not limit the area of ​​each stage of any investment project. Hence, the Amendment of Decree 82 need to be adjusted to remove bottlenecks in industrial park development

On the other hand, the limitation of the industrial park area is not on the list of business investment conditions specified in the Investment Law. The demand for land rental in industrial zones is increasing, requiring an increasingly large scale. Like the industrial parks that Samsung invests in Bac Giang and Thai Nguyen, they all have a vast area of ​​over 500 hectares.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Pham Hong Diep – General Director of Nam Cau Kien Industrial Park (Hai Phong), also said that it is not advisable to limit investment in industrial zones with an area of ​​less than 500 hectares. Accordingly, for localities with large land fund and good infrastructure conditions, the development of industrial zones of over 1,000 hectares should be allowed to attract large production investor associations.

Reduction of administrative procedures, improve priority mechanism

Another issue that industrial park investors are concerned about is the regulations on administrative procedures in implementing legal guidelines for forming industrial zones.

According to Mr. Diep, with current regulations, for investors to be licensed to invest, it takes investors 24 months, even some projects up to 36 months. This seriously affects the efficiency of investment as well as misses many opportunities to attract the investment for the projects.

Therefore, Mr. Diep suggested that there should be measures and policies to reduce administrative procedures in developing and expanding industrial parks, especially projects of infrastructure development units that have already been established reputation and efficiency through the actual implementation capacity of existing projects.

In particular, in this challenging context, Vietnam needs to take more decisive actions and remove investment procedures. “Decree 82 needs to be revised towards a more open and stronger direction to attract investors,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh An (Director of Ohdear Vietnam JSC) recommended.

Moreover, Mr. An said that when investors come to Vietnam, they are interested in social security for workers, environmental standards. But what they are most afraid of is the time it takes to carry out administrative procedures.

(Source: vneconomy)