HCM City (VNA) – Industrial and
processing parks in Ho Chi Minh City have not developed to their potential due
to poor infrastructure and a lack of connection among the parks, delegates said
at a weekend seminar.
Speaking on the 25th anniversary of the HCM City Export
Processing and Industrial Zone Authority (HEPZA), Secretary of the municipal Party
Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said: “Related authorities and HEPZA should review
and clarify a new development plan for industrial and processing parks based on
high-tech enterprises.”
Former assistant of the minister of
planning and investment Nguyen Van Kich confirmed that HCM City was the first
locality in Vietnam to open and lead the development of industrial and
processing parks, but recently, its role in industrial and processing parks has
declined.
“The development master plan of
industrial and processing parks hasn’t clarified inter-regional, inter-industry
and production chain connectivity,” he said.
“In particular, the role of HCM
City as the biggest economic hub in Vietnam has been forgotten. In
the past, industrial and processing parks in HCM City were not always able to
anticipate and prepare for key sectors that require high technology, high
intelligence and high competitiveness, such as electronics, information
technology, telecommunications, bio-tech and engineering,” Kich added.
Professor Nguyen Trong Hoai from
HCM City Economics University suggested that HEPZA should encourage industrial
clusters to create close linkages with support industries. “Existing
industrial parks should be improved under the principle of a strong connection
among manufacturing enterprises and the consumption system,” he said.
Hoai also urged that all
enterprises still located in residential areas should be moved into industrial
parks to help protect the environment of those areas.
Former director of Tan Thuan
Limited company Phan Chanh Duong called on HEPZA to create economic development
on a foundation of industrial and processing parks.
“Right now, industrial and
processing parks should not only be concerned about how to attract investors
but they also should participate in promoting technological innovation with
existing enterprises as well as promoting the development of industrial and
processing parks in line with specific professional requirements,” Duong said.
Twenty-five years after the first
industrial and processing park was established, 4,500 hectares out of a total
of 8,900 hectares in 19 parks have been put in use.
“Most projects are small and the
proportion of high-tech, high-value added projects are small too,” Nguyen Hoang
Nang, head of the HEPZA, said.
“Master planning hasn’t met the
demands of development. There are so many small industrial parks located in
different places and there is no connection between them,” he added.
“Industrial and processing parks
haven’t used land for social welfare projects.”
“The most important thing is that
the “one-gate” management model being applied for HEPZA hasn’t been established
by law, only at the decree level. Therefore, it is very hard for us to manage
and to develop,” Nang added.-VNA