Construction of technical infrastructure of economic zones and industrial parks is not synchronized - Barrier to attracting investment
(Baonghean) -Nghe An invested in developing industrial parks (IPs) quite early (in 1998, Bac Vinh IP was invested), but up to now, the province has not had any IPs with complete and synchronous investment in technical infrastructure. Therefore, it has greatly affected investment promotion as well as the implementation of licensed projects...
Currently, in addition to the Southeast Economic Zone (with a natural area of 18,826 hectares located in Nghi Loc, Dien Chau districts and Cua Lo town), Nghe An has been approved by the Prime Minister for the Project to adjust and supplement the planning of 8 industrial parks in the list of industrial parks nationwide prioritized for development until 2015 with a view to 2020, including Bac Vinh, Hoang Mai, Dong Hoi, Song Dinh, Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Phu Quy, and Tri Le industrial parks.
Despite certain advantages, investment in the development of industrial parks still faces many difficulties and obstacles, especially in investment in technical infrastructure. This is clearly seen in Bac Vinh Industrial Park, after more than 15 years of investment and construction (since 1998), up to now, this first industrial park is only over 60 hectares wide, but only internal traffic items, power supply system, water supply and drainage, lighting and green tree system have been completed with a total investment capital of 56,176 billion VND, while the operating area, pumping station system, tank and wastewater treatment area have not been invested yet. Due to the lack of synchronous infrastructure, some enterprises in Bac Vinh Industrial Park after going into operation have been complained by people due to environmental pollution...
Mr. Dang Ngoc Long - Project Director of the Concrete Structure Factory - Unburnt Construction Materials in Dong Hoi Industrial Park (Hoang Mai) said: "This is one of the important projects of Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation, the project has been implemented for a long time and the enterprise invested 33 billion VND for compensation and site clearance, along with completing the leveling work, building fences, drainage ditches in phase 1 with a value of more than 11 billion VND... Up to now, the project is still stuck with the site clearance of 17 households, which has affected the progress of the project.
Because the technical infrastructure of the Industrial Park is not yet available and for this project to go into production and business by the end of 2015, the Industrial Park needs to speed up the construction of electricity and water works, complete the resettlement area... Only then will it create favorable conditions for the project to be implemented on schedule and promote efficiency". It is known that at Dong Hoi Industrial Park (The investor in the construction of the Industrial Park infrastructure is Nghe An Petroleum Construction Joint Stock Company, then the province decided to replace the infrastructure investor with Vietnam Investment Partners - VIP Company Limited).
In this industrial park, there have been 3 projects registered for investment: Kobe sponge iron production project (Japan) with an investment capital of 1 billion USD; Vietnam Cement Corporation's unburnt material production project (819 billion VND) and Borha India's superphosphate fertilizer production project (30 million USD). In addition, Quynh Lap Thermal Power Center with a capacity of 2,400 MW has also been identified for construction in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, the investor VINACOMIN is preparing an investment project.
Unsynchronized technical infrastructure in Dong Hoi Industrial Park (Hoang Mai).
Although attracting investment projects to Dong Hoi Industrial Park is very promising, up to now, the industrial park investors have not yet implemented the construction of infrastructure items. Therefore, in order to promptly serve the projects registered for investment in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board to establish projects and implement the construction of rescue roads and resettlement areas for households along the Dong Hoi coast, roads to Kobeko Sponge Iron Factory... At Hoang Mai Industrial Park, there is a total land lease area of 289.67 hectares (registered investment capital of 812 billion VND, invested by VIP Company), currently more than 200/289 hectares have been cleared and the investor has built infrastructure of 215.7 billion VND, including leveling, fencing, roads, drainage ditches, and an operator's house... However, the technical infrastructure has not been completed synchronously, so it has not attracted investors.
Unsynchronized investment in technical infrastructure is also a difficult problem in the Southeast Economic Zone. Although the Economic Zone Management Board has established 14 infrastructure investment projects, including 10 traffic routes: N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5; Northern Water Plant Project with a capacity of 17,000 m3/day; Southern Water Plant with a capacity of 45,000 m3/day; Wastewater treatment system of Area B - Nam Cam Industrial Park; Workers' Housing Project in Nam Cam Industrial Park, but up to now, most of the projects are still under construction, with very slow progress.
Mr. Vinh Duc - Deputy Head of Planning and Investment Department of the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board said: "Currently, contractors are constructing 3 main roads and a centralized wastewater treatment area in Area B of Nam Cam Industrial Park. Specifically, at the N2 road project in Dien Chau district, with a length of 7.77km, connecting Area A, Tho Loc Industrial Park with National Highway 1A and the coastal defense road, the construction volume to date is estimated at 167,583 billion VND/total investment capital of 559,218 million VND and is expected to be completed in 2014.
The N5 road project in Nghi Loc district has a length of 12.458km, connecting the expanded Nam Cam Industrial Park with Cua Lo Port. Currently, the construction volume of section 1 is over 203.4 billion VND and section 2 is over 152.4 billion VND. At the D4 longitudinal road with a length of 7.066km, connecting National Highway 1A with Cua Lo Deepwater Port in Nghi Thiet commune, the construction volume is estimated at 322.4 billion VND, expected to be completed in 2015. The Nam Cam Industrial Park centralized wastewater treatment project, the construction unit is implementing a construction volume of over 8.2 billion VND. According to statistics, the total value of the implementation of all 4 projects to date has reached over 854.071 billion VND.
In reality, the investment capital for the technical infrastructure of the economic zone is still limited, along with that, some contractors are not determined to speed up the progress, construction is interrupted, slow, such as Xuan Truong Company, which undertakes the construction of N2 and N5 roads, section 1, but for the past 10 months has temporarily stopped construction, although the functional sectors have repeatedly reminded and requested, the contractor has not continued to implement the project. This incident not only seriously affects the progress of the technical infrastructure of the Southeast Economic Zone, but also reduces the province's ability to attract investment.
To create "motivation" for the development of economic zones and industrial parks, recently, our province has approved the plan to develop the Southeast Economic Zone and industrial parks for the period 2012 - 2015. Accordingly, the plan to mobilize State budget capital to invest in the construction of infrastructure for economic zones and industrial parks for the period 2012 - 2015 is 3,124.158 billion VND (of which: Central budget capital: 2,238.984 billion VND and local budget capital: 885.574 billion VND). However, in nearly 2 years of implementation, the total State budget capital allocated to economic zones and industrial parks only reached 14% of the plan (451.86 billion VND), of which: Central budget capital is 327.2 billion VND and local budget capital is 124.66 billion VND. Thereby, it can be seen that the investment capital for infrastructure construction of economic zones and industrial parks in the period of 2012 - 2015 will be difficult to achieve the set plan.
According to the leader of the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board, “The total accumulated capital for infrastructure construction in the Southeast Economic Zone and industrial parks from 2007 to present has reached 2,047.21 billion VND (of which the State budget capital is 1,050.41 billion VND, but 1/3 of that capital is spent on compensation for site clearance, the rest is invested in construction and enterprises invested 996.8 billion VND mainly for leveling the ground). With these figures, it can be seen that infrastructure investment has encountered many difficulties and has affected investment promotion as well as the implementation of licensed projects...”. It is known that after 5 years of operation, essential infrastructure in the Southeast Economic Zone has not been invested in and built synchronously. The clean land fund outside of 327 hectares of Nam Cam Industrial Park has been basically arranged, there is no clean land fund in the Economic Zone to arrange for investment projects. One issue that the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board is very worried about is that essential infrastructure investment projects in the economic zone are still lacking thousands of billions of VND to implement. Due to a serious lack of capital, not only is the progress slow, but some items also have to request extensions...
In the coming time, mobilizing investment capital from the State budget will be difficult, so in order to "unblock" the capital source for technical infrastructure investment in the Southeast Economic Zone and industrial parks, our province needs to increase the mobilization of ODA capital and study and propose investment in the construction of a number of projects in the form of public-private investment (PPP) according to Decision No. 71/2010/QD-TTg, dated November 9, 2010 of the Prime Minister for a number of essential infrastructure works in the Southeast Economic Zone and industrial parks. Along with that, it is necessary to effectively mobilize capital from enterprises and organizations at home and abroad.
Hoang Vinh
