US$500 million for high tech park
The HCM City government is calling for local and foreign
investment in a high-tech park that is expected to change the
city's unreasonable industrial structure
The idea to develop a high-tech
park was initiated more than 10
years ago. To translate the idea
into reality, HCM City leaders held
a seminar early this week to
garner opinions for the master
plan and the feasibility study for
the first-phase development of this ambitious project.
The seminar
gathered some 200 participants, including government officials and local
and foreign academics. The Saigon High-tech Park, to be developed on
an area of 804ha in District 9, is designed to attract local and foreign
investment in high-tech industries and to train manpower for industrial
parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in the South. Facilities
for high-tech manufacturing, manpower training, research and
development, services and modern infrastructure will be developed.
Investment will be encouraged in key industries such as electronics,
information technology, telecommunications, bio-technology, precision
engineering, automation, new materials and clean energy. The
investment funds are expected to come from the State budget, official
development aid and utilities companies.
First-phase development.
According to the draft master plan and the
feasibility study, the first phase of the project will cover 300ha, to be
developed between now and 2005. HCM City will invest US$500 million to
develop infrastructure to facilitate investors' operations and manpower
training. Works in the first phase include high-tech factories (nearly
100ha), the administration and service section, research and
development facilities and housing for experts. For the time being, the
project management board is collecting expert opinions on the project
and 22 reports by 50 researchers to submit to the Prime Minister. "If
approval is forthcoming, expected in November, the city authorities will
start work on the project immediately later this year." said Dang Ngoc
Dinh, former director of the Science and Technology Strategy Research
Institute and member of the project compilation board.
According to Pham Chanh Truc, director of the project management
board, in the first phase, priority will be given to attracting investment in
the electronics, telecommunications, information technology, precision
engineering and automation industries. More than 10 big companies from
America and Europe and several others from Asia have met the board
and signed memoranda of understanding for investment in the project.
"Some overseas Vietnamese from the Silicon Valley in the U.S. have
promised to invest once the infrastructure is completed," Dinh said.
Strong determination.
Dinh said the Government and central
authorities have showed support and appreciated the feasibility of the
project as HCM City is the financial, economic and industrial hub of the
country and the center of the southern economic quadrangle (HCM City,
Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Binh Duong). The city has great potential for
science and technology and a large contingent of qualified intellectuals.
A total of 36 industrial parks, export processing zones and software parks
are operating well in the city, and investors in the high-tech park can
supply their products to manufacturing factories there.
According to HCM City Chairman Le Thanh Hai, the city authorities will
develop the project with strong determination and the best preparations.
"The Saigon High-tech Park is one of the 12 key projects that the city's
leadership approved in December 2000."
Tran Du Lich, director of the HCM City Economics Institute, admitted that
the percentage of high-tech industry in HCM City is too low. He said the
city's industrial growth in the first nine months of this year showed signs of
slowdown due mainly to the unreasonable industrial structure. Lich cited
that food processing and textile, garment and leather production made
up more than 46% of the city's industrial production value while other
goods accounted for a small share, for example mechanical products
7% and electronics under 3%. "This structure shows that the city's
industrial sector is dominated by labor-intensive industries like textile,
garment and leather, or semi-processing of agro-products whose
materials are not available locally," Lich said. He noted that with this
structure, the city is facing fierce competition from neighboring localities
which have an advantage in materials and labor cost, and its industry is
losing the competitive edge.
Investment attraction policy.
The Saigon High-tech Park will give
priority to attracting investment from the world's leading high-tech
multinationals such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Acer. According to Truc,
the project management board will offer the most attractive incentives to
investors. "The city authorities will give concrete support to each specific
investor such as long-term reduction of land rent or exemption of land rent
for investors possessing source technologies," Truc said. Meanwhile,
Dinh noted that for investment projects that are specially encouraged, the
city authorities will not only offer land free but also reduce or exempt taxes
and develop housing for experts.
The project management board will ask the Government to allow foreign
investors to register their projects only instead of asking for licenses as
currently done. Evaluation of technology, financial capacity and safety
should be conducted after investors start operations, and the one-door
mechanism and onsite customs procedure should be applied. It will also
propose the Government allow free trade in the park.
"The city will encourage the establishment of small and medium
high-tech enterprises, and high-tech production and services businesses
with different investment sources from local funds, overseas Vietnamese
and foreign investors," Hai said.
By Quoc Hung - The Saigon Times Weekly - Octotber 5, 2002.
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