Reporter Trieu Tung from the Da Nang Newspaper recently interviewed representatives of some local businesses to collect their opinions on the construction of urban industrial parks (IPs) in the city in the near future.

The President of the Phuoc Tien General Trading Company, Mr Do Anh Tuan, emphasised the need for the city’s authorities to issue feasible and long-term planning and investment incentive strategies which will appeal to more domestic and foreign businesses to invest in the city.  He also suggested that more support should be given to businesses to promote their operations, as well as giving special concern for their legal rights.  In addition, special attention should be paid to issuing preferential policies to attract more potential investors. 

Newly-assembled Nissan cars at the TCIE Vietnam Company in the Hoa Khanh IP

Mr Tuan added that many investors are interested to learn about land lease prices, other related fees, goods transport, human resources, and infrastructure construction at the IP where they want to set up their business.  For this reason, it is essential to build an IP which holds a regional strategic position as well as having unique characteristics compared with those in other central region localities.  This idea might help to attract more foreign investors to the city such as, for example, South Korea’s giant Samsung, which has expanded its investment in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Mai Dang Hieu, said that the city has not yet satisfied the demand of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) enterprises for land in local IPs.  He added that, over recent years, Japan has remained Viet Nam’s largest investor with 2,047 valid projects worth 33.43 billion USD in total.  In reality, many Japanese investors focus on learning about the business situations of those enterprises from their country which are already operating in Viet Nam, instead of paying special attention to information about the city’s investment environment released by the local authorities.  In addition, there is a new trend across the country of building IPs exclusively for Japanese businesses.  Representatives of many Japanese businesses who come to the city to seek investment opportunities have suggested the city’s authorities should plan to build IPs to fully tap the city’s manpower potential in mechanical engineering, automation, modelling techniques and other aspects.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of the Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation, Mr Tran Van Linh, said that workers are regarded as an asset of any enterprise.  Currently, many young married couples who are working in local IPs are facing pressure relating to work, house rental fees, baby-sitting and other issues.  Mr Linh remarked that if more land was leased to businesses operating in local IPs, they would be willing to build apartment buildings for their workers, kindergartens for their children, and other utilities.