Industrial parks (IPs) and economic zones (EZs) nationwide have attracted 291 FDI projects with total registered and supplemented capital of over US$6 billion in the first five months of this year, up 10.3% over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
IPs and EZs have also attracted 271 projects of domestic investors with a total registered and supplemented capital of VND53.2 trillion (US$2.3 billion).
By the end of May 2021, IPs and EZs have 10,853 valid FDI projects worth a total of US$228.4 billion with 69.6% of the capital disbursed. As many as 10,186 valid projects of domestic investors are running at IPs and EZs with a total investment capital of VND2,530 trillion and 45.4% of the capital disbursed.
Vietnam has 394 established IPs with 286 IPs in operation and 108 others under construction. A number of 351 IPs are located outside EZs and 43 IPs are located inside EZs.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment encourages and support enterprises to choose advanced technology to invest in IPs and EZs and promote further linkage between enterprises within the IP and EZ sphere in order to improve their performance.
Tran Dinh Thien, former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said: "Localities have correctly identified opportunities and that there will be investment booms in Vietnam as they see the benefit of many free trade agreements.” As the flow of investment in the world was shifting to other parts including Vietnam, IP developers and leaders of the localities understood they can promote the attraction of investment with their IPs.
He told local media: "IP developers should not be too impatient when waiting for good investors and big corporations need more for their IPs such as a national infrastructure connection as well as policies supporting their work such as human resources and environment-friendly facilities. Otherwise, Vietnam will spend a lot of time living with low-level projects and environmental pollution.”
Le Thanh Van, a member of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly said: “Vietnam is deeply involved in value chains and the scale of IPs with some hundreds of hectares or 1,000-1,500 ha is no longer suitable. The current model of IPs is a perfect supply chain with much bigger spaces. Some countries have IPs of about 20,000-30,000 ha each. As Vietnam does not have an industrial park of 1,000 ha and a new model, it would be difficult for us to call for a wave of investment,” adding: “We must create an attractive space with a new model in the planning of IPs," she said.
Colliers Vietnam said the model of eco-IPs will play an important role in the sustainable development strategy in general, helping to reduce resource exploitation, limit the impact on the environment while still not affecting the performance of businesses. In addition, the environment contribution will also make a positive contribution to the efforts to combat climate change in Vietnam and globally.