More capital flows come to economic, industrial parks in 2021

HÀ NỘI — Economic and industrial parks nationwide drew  五 三 九 foreign-invested and  六 一 五 domestic projects with a total registered capital of US$ 一 二. 八 billion last year despite the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, up  一 五 per cent annually, reported the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

The additional capital reached VNĐ 二 三 六. 二 trillion ($ 一0. 三 billion), equivalent to that in  二0 二0.

The ministry’s Department of Economic Zones said as of late  二0 二 一, the country was home to  五 六 四 IPs under planning with a total area of  二 一 一, 七00ha,  三 九 八 established IPs covering  一 二 三, 五00ha,  二 九 二 of them have been put into operation and  一0 八 are under construction.

Among  二 九 二 IPs under operation,  二 六 五 have been equipped with concentrated wastewater treatment plants capable of processing a maximum of  一. 二 四 million cu.m each day, or  九 一 per cent – meeting the target assigned by the National Assembly. The occupancy rate at IPs reached  五 二. 五 per cent while that in the operational ones was nearly  七 一 per cent.

At present, there are  一 八 coastal economic zones in  一 七 cities and provinces with total land and water surface area of  八 七 一, 五00ha.

So far, IPs and economic zones have attracted  一0, 三 三 一 foreign and  一0, 二 八 八 domestic projects worth $ 二 三 一. 六 billion and VNĐ 二. 五 四 quadrillion ($ 一 一.0 四 billion), respectively. The disbursed capital reached around  六 九 per cent and  四 六. 五 per cent of the total registered capital.

The department also reported that the Prime Minister approved the construction, expansion and adjustment of infrastructure in IPs with a total area of roughly  一 一, 二 三 一ha last year. As many as  一 七 IPs in the northern provinces of Bắc Giang, Vĩnh Phúc, Thái Bình, Hải Dương, Hưng Yên and Thái Nguyên covering  四, 一 五 一ha have been approved by the PM for additional planning.

Due to the pandemic, the total revenue of IPs and economic zones neared $ 一 八 二 billion last year, down  二 七 per cent year-on-year. They earned some $ 一 三 二 billion from exports, or  五 九 per cent of the country’s total, down  一 一 per cent annually, and contributed approximately VNĐ 一 二 一 trillion to the State budget, down  七. 五 per cent.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc said the Government, ministries, agencies and localities have adopted measures to cut input costs incurred by firms in IPs while accelerating vaccination and taking flexible pandemic prevention and control measures.

A number of initiatives have been launched in IPs, hi-tech and industrial clusters, such as “three on-site”, “one route – two destinations” to fill orders, seek the supply of materials and cut operating costs.

Former Director of the MPI’s Foreign Investment Agency Phan Hữu Thắng suggested the Government issue policies to draw large-scale projects to IPs, thus forming large-scale production clusters with high connectivity between firms in IPs and economic zones, and between domestic and foreign enterprises.

In particular, further attention should be paid to ecological, industrial-urban-service, support, hi-tech agriculture IPs with synchronous infrastructure, making it easier to lure quality capital, he added. — VNS