Nghe An: Attracting 85 projects with total capital of more than 10,000 billion VND

Simplify administrative procedures

Mr. Le Tien Tri - Director of the Provincial Investment Promotion and Support Center shared: One of the new highlights in promoting and calling for investment in recent years of Nghe An is to promote cooperation and association with localities that are important hubs in economic centers such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of the North Central region to both promote and introduce the province's potential to attract investment as well as create regional linkages for businesses and investors to seek and choose investment opportunities in Nghe An, at the same time, it is an opportunity for businesses and investors in the province to seek investment opportunities with other localities.
In addition, along with organizing the Meeting with Investors in early Spring, the province proactively sought out domestic investors, which are corporations and enterprises with great capacity and influence, to promote large-scale projects; coordinated to organize the Japan - North Central Meeting Conference and the Nghe An - Japan Meeting Conference along with many other specialized conferences and seminars to introduce potential and call for investment.

Thanks to that, in the past 2 years, the province has effectively cooperated with industrial park infrastructure investors such as VSIP, WHA Hemaraj, Hoang Thinh Dat to do business in the area and through that, directed foreign investors with brands and reputation to invest in projects according to the province's attraction orientation.

Thanks to the maximum support, the infrastructure of phase 1 of WHA Industrial Park quickly handed over 98% of the land and began preparing for phase 2.

Next, after the investment promotion conference, the province started implementing support commitments. Specifically, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Provincial Investment Promotion and Support Center to act as the focal point, coordinate with departments, branches and localities to regularly monitor, grasp the implementation situation and summarize the problems and difficulties arising for key projects and investment attraction projects to propose the Provincial People's Committee to direct functional departments and branches to advise on solutions and promote the progress of project implementation.

Since the beginning of the year, the province has established a working group to direct the removal of key projects that are still stuck; assigned departments and branches to monitor and resolve investment procedures for 29 key projects; periodically, the Secretary or Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee works directly with investors to find solutions to urge and remove difficulties and obstacles; periodically every 2 months, the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee organize meetings with business associations to direct the handling of enterprises' recommendations; every month, the Provincial Investment Promotion and Support Center coordinates with the Department of Planning and Investment to review due documents to report to the Provincial People's Committee to urge departments and branches...

The Director of Emtech Company, which invested in the project at VSIP Industrial, Urban and Service Park, said: The improvement in investment procedures was evident when all investment procedures for the factory were completed within 6 months, contributing to the factory's quick operation.

Transactions at the one-stop department of the Provincial Investment Promotion and Support Center.

Thanks to that, since the beginning of the year, the province has processed 186 out of 259 non-budget investment dossiers; 100% of enterprises registered their business without having to go to the management agency and 100% of business registration dossiers were processed and returned results on time; time and travel of people and enterprises were significantly reduced.

Most recently, after a period of research, on August 5, 2019, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee signed a decision to establish the Public Administration Service Center as the focal point to receive and process all records and administrative procedures related to investment attraction.

Positive changes in investment attraction

With the above synchronous solutions, as of October 17, 2019, the whole province has newly granted (approved investment policy, issued Investment Registration Certificate) to 85 projects, with a total registered investment capital of VND 9,985 billion; adjusted 5 projects with a total adjusted investment capital increase of VND 668.07 billion, bringing the total newly granted and increased capital to VND 10,653 billion.

Newly issued project diagram. Graphics: Lam Tung

Of these, there are 21 projects in economic zones and industrial parks with a total investment capital of up to VND7,229 billion; there are 62 investment projects outside economic zones and industrial parks with a total registered capital of VND2,755 billion.

The largest is the Vinhtex Project of Royal Pagoda Company (Singapore) invested in VSIP Industrial Park with a capital of 200 million USD.

Thanks to the support and close direction of the province, a number of major projects committed in 2018 were implemented quite quickly in 2019:

1. Masan Beer and Beverage Factory Project in Area B, Nam Cam Industrial Park.

2. Construction materials production complex project of Trung Do Joint Stock Company in Nghi Van commune (Nghi Loc).

3. Biomassa Fuel Vietnam biomass pellet factory in VSIP Industrial Park.

4. Nui Tien purified water, fruit juice and herbal juice processing factory.

5. EM-Tech Vinh factory in VSIP Industrial Park.

6. Frescol Tuna Vietnam Factory.

7. Em-tech Vinh Factory.

8. Quang Trung Area B...

Many projects have been completed and put into operation. (In the photo: A corner of VSIP Industrial Park, Nghe An; Recruiting workers at Em-Tech Factory (VSIP Industrial Park); Packing corrugated iron products at Hoa Sen Corrugated Iron Factory (Nghe An)). Photo courtesy of Lam Tung

Compared to the same period in 2018, in 2019, the number of projects decreased by 7.5% but the total investment increased by 15.41%. The Provincial People's Committee has established an interdisciplinary team to inspect slow-progressing and slow-implementing projects in the province; in the first 9 months of 2019, 11 projects were terminated and revoked, bringing the total number of revoked projects to date to 163.

In addition to the above advantages, from the actual research and discussion with representatives of a number of business associations and investors, it is also frankly stated that, in order to improve the investment environment, the province still has to try harder to overcome the shortcomings and limitations. That is to maintain regular dialogues between provincial leaders and businesses and investors to resolutely direct the removal of obstacles and difficulties in the process of project implementation, and strictly handle the situation of officials and civil servants handling documents in a roundabout and irresponsible manner.

On the other hand, currently, the implementation of investment projects outside the economic zones and industrial parks faces many difficulties in determining the current status and origin of land, so although the province creates favorable conditions, when implementing, there are many problems in land recovery, compensation and clearance, making investors hesitant and wasting time waiting.

Upgrading Cua Lo port infrastructure is one of the conditions to attract investment.

According to the 2019 plan, the province strives to attract investment into the area of ​​about 120 projects with a total capital of 25,000 - 30,000 billion VND, of which FDI capital is about 3,000 - 5,000 billion VND, thereby creating new jobs for about 11,000 - 12,000 workers.