Endowed with peculiar advantages plus attractive investment incentive policies, Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks have become ideal and reliable destinations for domestic and international investors. The following interview with Mr. Nguyen Minh Tai, Director of the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority, will help explain their appeal. Duy Anh reports.
Could you please tell us about investment attraction outcomes and business development performance of tenants at Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks, as well as their remarkable contributions to socioeconomic development of Quang Ngai province in particular, the central key economic region and the country as a whole?
Investment attraction into Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks has achieved positive outcomes in the past years, especially in 2018 - a successful year in this effort. During the year, the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority handed investment licenses to 60 projects valued at VND27,260 billion (US$1.177 billion), including 15 FDI projects with over US$366 million and 45 domestic investment projects with VND18,780 billion (US$811 million). To date, Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks have drawn 315 valid projects with a combined registered investment of about US$12.4 billion, including 57 FDI projects with US$1.7 billion and 258 domestic projects with VND209,270 billion (US$10.7 billion). These impressive figures partly demonstrate the success of Quang Ngai province’s investment policy for Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks.
Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks have made great contributions to socioeconomic development of Quang Ngai province in particular and the central key economic region and the whole country in general; helped raise the utility of local investment resources; fundamentally changed the local GDP structure towards an increasing share of industry and service; significantly increased budget revenue; and generated jobs for local laborers. Until now, tenants employed about 40,000 workers in addition to more than 7,000 workers in construction and service areas.
In addition to attractive investment incentive policies, Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks are always appealing to investors because of their own unique advantages such as deep-water seaport system, synchronous and connected infrastructure system, and industrial development land fund. Could you tell us more about these advantages?
The core advantage of Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks is that Dung Quat deep-water seaport is capable of receiving vessels of 200,000 DWT.
Another magnet is the synchronous and connected infrastructure system, effectively meeting investment and business requirements of licensed projects. Especially, the transport infrastructure is well linked to the central key economic region. Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway significantly shortened the travel time between Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks with other provinces and cities in the region such as Quang Nam and Da Nang.
One more plus of Dung Quat Economic Zone is that Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority always ensures an open, convenient investment and business environment for businesses and investors; always accompanies and supports investors from when they start surveying and studying investment opportunities through to when they construct and operate their projects (providing relevant information and documents; guiding and supporting investors to carry out relevant procedures, promptly solving hardships for businesses and investors). In addition, Dung Quat Economic Zone possesses many other advantages that catch the attention of investors, like having vast land for industrial projects, lying near Chu Lai Airport, having abundant labor resources and having vocational colleges in Dung Quat EZ to train and provide high-quality human resources for tenants.
The Prime Minister agreed to upgrade and expand the refining capacity Dung Quat oil refinery to 8.5 million tons a year and develop Dung Quat Economic Zone to become the National Oil Refinery and Energy Center. What does this mean for the appeal of Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks in the coming time?
The Prime Minister's decision on upgrading and expansion of Dung Quat Oil Refinery Plant to 8.5 million tons a year and development of Dung Quat Economic Zone into the National Petrochemical Refinery and Energy Center has produced positive impacts on investment attraction in Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks; and created driving force and ripple effects on investment inflows. The upgrading and expansion of Dung Quat Oil Refinery and a series of large-scale projects will entail the development of supporting industries and support services. At present, many investors have arrived to survey and research investment projects in petrochemicals and tourism projects.
What are the specific goals and targets of investment attraction into Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks in 2019? What solutions will the authority take to fulfill these goals and targets?
In 2019, the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority will continue to entice large-scale industrial projects linked to Dung Quat deep-water seaport; draw light industry projects, environmentally friendly processing projects into such industrial parks as VSIP Quang Ngai and Sai Gon - Dung Quat. In addition, the authority will focus on attracting logistics, infrastructure, port services and warehousing projects; and industrial zone infrastructure investment projects, tourism, urban and resort projects.
To achieve this, the Management Board will accelerate administrative reform; reduce the service time for investors and citizens; perfect the single-window mechanism for investment projects at Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai industrial parks; diversify investment promotion activities; strengthen coordination with domestic and international agencies and organizations to organize conferences and seminars on investment promotion int Dung Quat EZ and local industrial zones.
The authority will also concentrate on consistent solutions to persuade existing investors to invite other investors to the province to do business by accompanying and supporting them to carry out investment procedures and promptly deal with emerging hardships. It will host regular meetings with them to listen to their opinions and promptly seek solutions to their emerging obstacles in the course of carrying out their projects. It will improve the quality of licensed investment projects and strengthen inspections into project implementation progress, thus resolutely dealing with slow-moving projects. In addition to focusing on investment in upgrading the technical and social infrastructure to meet project requirements, the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority will coordinate with authorities to boost communications to raise public awareness of investment attraction purposes to have their full support and cooperation on land compensation and site clearance to provide favorable conditions for investors to carry out their projects.
Thank you very much!
Vietnamese
