Lack of synchronous infrastructure in many industrial clusters in Nghe An
(Baonghean) - Unfinished investment or slow progress in completion is a common situation in many industrial clusters in Nghe An. One of the key issues is still lack of capital.
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER INFRASTRUCTURE INSECURITY
According to the Department of Industry and Trade, Nghe An is currently planning to develop 51 industrial parks with a total area of 1,119.32 hectares. Of the 51 planned industrial parks, up to now, 39 industrial parks have implemented planning steps, while 12 industrial parks in the planning have not been implemented.
It is known that in the period of 2017 - 2018, the industrial parks attracted 241 enterprises to operate in production and business, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, including 4 relatively large FDI enterprises investing in the garment sector, creating jobs and increasing income for a large number of workers in rural areas with about 21,000 workers. The production value of enterprises in the industrial parks reached approximately 3,655 billion VND/year.
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| Garment production at a business in Nam Giang Industrial Park, Nam Dan. Photo: Viet Phuong |
However, the infrastructure of industrial parks still has many shortcomings. Up to now, 8 industrial parks have completed the basic technical infrastructure system including: Nghi Phu, Dong Vinh, Thap - Hong - Ky, Do Luong Town, Anh Son Town, Hung Loc, Dien Hong, Nghia Hoan with a total investment of more than 135 billion VND. There are 04 industrial parks that have completed about 70-80% of the investment items including: Nam Giang, Chau Hong, Yen Thanh Town, Trang Ke. The remaining investment is unfinished and lacks synchronization.
In general, the industrial parks in the area have chosen planning locations close to national highways or major traffic routes, which is convenient for travel and minimizes investment costs for traffic roads in the industrial parks. However, there are still projects that have not been implemented or are under investment, such as: The traffic connection project from Nghia Long industrial park (Nghia Dan district) to Ho Chi Minh road has not been implemented due to insufficient funding. The traffic road project to Dong Van industrial park (Tan Ky district) is still under implementation due to the lack of demand to attract investment in the industrial park and low investment efficiency.
Also due to lack of capital, the project of lighting the road to Thap - Hong - Ky Industrial Park and the power supply system for Thuong Son Industrial Park have not been implemented yet...
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| Graphics: Lam Tung |
Another problem is that all industrial parks in the area do not have housing for workers in their detailed planning and in reality most workers have to rent houses in cramped conditions that do not ensure their livelihood.
Ms. Ho Thi Hang, from Tan Son, Quynh Luu, works as a worker for a garment factory in Lac Son Industrial Park (Do Luong). After 3 years of working as a worker, she had to rent a house. Ms. Hang said: My income at the factory is only 5-6 million VND/month, but the rent for the house is already 1 million VND, and then there are the electricity, water, food and many other expenses. The cost of renting a house is expensive, but the quality of the room is cramped and hot, so it is very difficult.
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| The Quy Chau town industrial park has not yet received synchronous infrastructure investment and has not attracted businesses to production for many years. Photo: Viet Phuong |
This is not an isolated case in industrial parks. Currently, some industrial parks have garment enterprises investing in them, attracting many workers, especially female workers, so there is a need for housing, daycare centers and other public welfare facilities such as markets, kindergartens, medical facilities, etc., but most of them do not have them.
Another prominent issue is that industrial parks mainly develop according to a multi-industry model, not really paying attention to environmental issues, negatively impacting the surrounding living environment. Of the 22 industrial parks in operation (with production and business enterprises), only 08 industrial parks have invested in centralized wastewater treatment systems.
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| Environmental pollution in Dien Hong Industrial Park, Dien Chau and Chau Hong Industrial Park, Quy Hop. Photo: PV |
For example, in Dien Chau, Dien Hong Industrial Cluster was invested and put into operation in 2013 with 41 production and business establishments such as producing steel bars, steel billets, galvanized steel pipes, roofing sheets, barbed wire, plastic granules, etc. However, due to the failure to ensure wastewater and exhaust gas treatment processes, smoke from plastic burning, steel billet smelting, and industrial wastewater discharged into the environment affects the lives of people living nearby. Also in this area, Thap - Hong - Ky Industrial Cluster has more than 30 production establishments; although there is a centralized environmental treatment system, people living around the industrial cluster are still being polluted by exhaust gas.
CARE ABOUT INVESTMENT CAPITAL
In order to synchronously develop the infrastructure of industrial parks, making an important contribution to socio-economic development and exploiting the potential and advantages of localities, according to calculations, the total capital demand for investment according to the approved planning and plan is about 9,104 billion VND. However, by the beginning of 2019, the total allocated capital only reached 2,110 billion VND (accounting for 23%), the value of completed work volume reached 2,239 billion VND.
Therefore, the investment progress of industrial parks is still slow and unsynchronized, the infrastructure is patchy,... industrial parks with exemplary infrastructure have not been built. The work of attracting enterprises and cooperatives to be investors in infrastructure of industrial parks in the province is still limited. The rate of industrial parks operating with wastewater treatment systems is still low. Investment in technical infrastructure for environmental protection items of industrial parks is still slow.
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| Tri Le Industrial Park, Anh Son district has had some investors but the infrastructure is not yet complete. Photo: Viet Phuong |
To meet development requirements, the province sets a target of continuing to attract investment to fill the industrial parks: Nghia My, Truong Thach, Lac Son, Nghia Hoan, Tho Son I, Tho Son II by 2020. Continue to invest in completing essential infrastructure items to ensure investment attraction and put into operation the industrial parks Hung Dong (Vinh City), Thuong Son (Do Luong), Trang Ke (Yen Thanh), Quynh Hoa (Quynh Luu).
Therefore, it is recommended that relevant departments and branches prioritize the allocation of capital from the provincial budget in 2019 - 2020 for the following projects to promptly implement and ensure the plan's objectives. In particular, the demand for allocation according to the Plan for synchronous development of industrial park infrastructure in Decision No. 2883/QD-UBND approved for the two years 2019 - 2020 is about 59 billion VND.
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| Textile and garment industry is a sector that creates many jobs for workers in Nghe An. Photo: Viet Phuong |
Recently, at a meeting with provincial leaders to inspect, review and evaluate the implementation of programs and projects to implement the Resolution of the 18th Provincial Party Congress, the Industry and Trade sector also recommended focusing on funding to support the completion of wastewater treatment systems of 14 industrial parks that have projects in operation but are under construction or have not invested in wastewater treatment systems. It is expected that the provincial budget will support this item at about 60 billion VND.
In the context of limited provincial budget, balancing investment resources for infrastructure of industrial parks to serve industrial development is still difficult. It is advisable to invest completely in industrial parks, not to invest in scattered and small-scale projects.
