From its very first industrial park in 1993 (Da Nang Industrial Park), Da Nang City now has six industrial parks covering 1,055.13 ha, including rentable area of 748.95 ha, of which 648.37 ha was leased and 100.58 ha was unoccupied (71.36 ha with ready infrastructure). The occupancy rate is 86.57 percent. Among six industrial parks, Da Nang Industrial Park and DVTS Da Nang Industrial Park are fully occupied by investors. Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone has an occupancy rate of 99.68 percent (0.98 ha unoccupied). Three remaining industrial parks (Hoa Cam, Hoa Khanh and Lien Chieu) have ready infrastructure for tenants to lease.Investment attraction results
Pham Nhat Phi, Director of the Da Nang Industrial and Export Processing Zone Authority, said industrial parks in the city attracted 90 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with US$940.12 million from 14 countries and territories as of November 2014, accounting for 23.19 percent of total projects in industrial parks (388 projects) and 58.47 percent of total investment value (VND33,760 billion). Remarkably, in the latest three years, FDI businesses have added US$219.378 million to their registered investment capital, 2.94 times more than the new registered investment capital (US$74.742 million), to improve technologies, add values, diversify products and increase exports. This showed long-term investment commitments of foreign investors in Da Nang City-based industrial parks.
Competitive advantages
Industrial parks in central provinces and cities are competing for external investment capital to tap their local potential and advantages. Although Da Nang does not exempt land rents as other localities, it has incomparable advantages over other localities.
Firstly, Da Nang City is defined as an acting engine of growth and development in the central region. The city lies in a very favourable position as it is a port city and eastern gateway of the East-West Economic Corridor – an advantage enabling Da Nang to expand economic activity.
Secondly, Da Nang has good infrastructure systems and services to support development investment. As an important traffic hub of the central region and the whole country, the Da Nang International Airport is one of three largest airports in Vietnam, with direct international flights to many countries; Da Nang deepwater seaport is one of the largest commercial ports in Vietnam; roads and the North – South Railway connecting the city with the rest of the country facilitate economic development and investment. Financial, banking, insurance and logistics services are being further developed to meet the requirements of enterprises.
Thirdly, dynamic economic development is reflected by high-growing and sustainable GDP growth. Da Nang City saw GDP growth of over 8 percent for more than 10 straight years.
Fourth, abundant and well-trained human resources are an advantage of Da Nang. The labour force accounts for 50 percent of the population. Universities, vocational schools and training establishments meet the labour demand in the central region.
Fifthly, its open investment environment is constantly improved. Da Nang always has a top provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking in the country and leads the country in IT application index.
Mr Yushi Ikeda, President and CEO of Da Nang Apple Film Factory, said at the inauguration ceremony of a factory in Hoa Cam Industrial Park, “Da Nang has Da Nang International Airport and Tien Sa deepwater seaport and lies in the eastern end of the East-West Economic Corridor (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam). But, what impressed me most when we came to Da Nang is a healthy environment and well-invested industrial parks, probably the best in the region. We can catch direct flights to many cities in Japan from the Da Nang International Airport. These are decisive conditions for our group to invest in Da Nang.”
However, Da Nang-based industrial zones still need to do much work to improve their investment climate to not only draw investors but also keep them in the long term. A current major limitation is industrial parks with limited room for expansion because the administrative area of Da Nang is small.
Selecting appropriate investors
Pham Nhat Phi said, based on the city’s social and economic development orientations, industrial zones give priority to projects with advanced technologies, supporting industries and high value generated like electricity, electronics, information technology, software, new materials, computers and peripherals, office machines, precision measurement equipment, medical equipment, supporting industries for manufacturing, electronics, computer science, automobile, textile and apparel, leather and footwear, and high-tech industries.
The Da Nang Industrial and Export Processing Zones Authority has solutions and measures to attract investment capital, develop industrial zones, and draw foreign investors. A major measure is administrative reform. Investment procedures in industrial parks in Da Nang are very much simplified. The authority has applied the single-window mechanism to investment certification, seal registration and tax code granting and is going to expand this mechanism to construction permits and fire prevention.
Besides, the authority will support tenants to do business in the most favourable way.
Development orientation
With the current investment attraction pace and remaining land fund, industrial parks in Da Nang will soon be filled up to 100 percent. Hence, the city is advocating planning new industrial complexes to relocate production bases in residential areas and build industrial parks for Japanese investors to draw projects using advanced technologies and generating high added value. Industrial parks will selectively pick investors for their unoccupied areas, with attention given to social security and the environment.
Han Luong
Đăng ký: VietNam News