Danang to call on investment in hi-tech, real estate after Tet

DANANG – The central coastal city of Danang plans to call for investment in 44 projects mostly in the fields of hi-tech and real estate after the Tet holiday, with each of them needing US$30,000 to US$400 million, according to a representative of the Danang Investment Promotion Agency.

Half of the 44 projects are in the information-technology and hi-tech sectors and will be executed in Danang Hi-Tech Park.

The city is seeking investors for a solar energy project which needs US$150 million to US$400 million, and a US$200-million project to manufacture semiconductor materials for electronic parts and circuits. A 60-hectare urban area project and Truoc Dong Lake ecological zone covering 100 hectares of land are also in need of investment capital.

Apart from that, the city plans to resume work on the delayed projects that have yet to be licensed for investment, including a No.2 software park project covering over 50 hectares. Singapore's firm Sembcorp proposed injecting over US$90 million into the project long ago, but it has been awaiting word from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, and National Defense as it is located in a maritime boundary area.

Meanwhile, Matrix Holdings Limited from Hong Kong wants to build a racetrack and horse training and multiplication center in the city, with total capital of US$200 million. An appropriate site is still being sought for it.

Further, Danang will prioritize foreign direct investment in digital, biotechnology, hi-tech agricultural projects, meaning that projects that apply outdated technologies and harm the environment will not be accepted. Investors from Japan, South Korea and Europe are preferred.

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Govt. approves six solar power projects in Binh Phuoc

HCMC – The Government has approved six solar power projects in Binh Phuoc, with total capacity reaching 850 megawatt peak (MWp), raising the planned solar power capacity in the southern province to the highest level in Vietnam, local news site Vietnam Plus reported, citing the provincial chairman, Nguyen Van Tram.

According the province’s solar power plan, Binh Phuoc will generate 4,775MWp by 2030, while over 2,700MWp will be produced from now until 2020.

To generate this volume of solar power, up to 6,000 hectares of land will be used for developing solar power projects, which are mainly located in the province’s Loc Ninh District.

Recently, Nguyen Anh Hoang, director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said the provincial People’s Committee had given approval to two investors to execute solar power projects.

The projects are set to initially generate some 600MWp of solar power in the province in June next year. Also, they will be connected to the national grid and put on commercial sale.

However, power experts said that investing in solar power usually costs an arm and a leg. For instance, the generation of 1MWp of solar power requires US$1 million.

Thac Mo Hydropower Corporation in Phuoc Long provincial town, Binh Phuoc, has been approved to generate 50MWp, with a total investment of VND1.3 trillion, equivalent to over US$55 million.

The experts added that Binh Phuoc is among three provinces with the highest number of sunlight hours and thus holds great potential for solar power development, especially in the border district of Loc Ninh.

-saigontime-

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Toyota Vietnam opens new dealership in Ha Tinh

HCMC - Toyota Vietnam Motor Company (TMV) on March 4 announced the opening of a new service station in the central province of Ha Tinh.

Toyota Phu Tai Duc-Ha Tinh, located on Tran Phu Street in Ha Tinh City, began operations under the 3S model (sales, service and spare parts).

The launch of Toyota Phu Tai Duc increased the total number of TMV dealers/dealer branches and authorized stations nationwide to 56.

With US$7.5 million in investment, Toyota Phu Tai Duc-Ha Tinh fully meets Toyota’s standards in terms of human resources, factory facilities and infrastructure.

The new dealership has three main areas: a product showroom; a lounge area for customers; and service workshops with eight general repair compartments, five quick repair compartments and 23 repair-painting compartments. All have been built according to Toyota’s standards and use a painting and color mixing system to ensure environmental hygiene.

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HCMC to set up business support center

HCMC – The HCMC government intends to set up a business support center that will carry out a survey of business bottlenecks every six months, as one of the solutions to improve its Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI).

The city last year moved down from the 6th to the 8th place in the PCI rankings of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), says a report by the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment at a meeting on PCI improvement on April 11.

Five component indicators in the PCI reading of the city fell. Transparency fell from 6.51 to 6.5 points as businesses believed documents related to State management activities were not readily available, and the link between enterprises and State agencies was not strong enough.

The indicator of fair competition recorded a drop from 4.28 to 4.13 points, with respondents saying the municipal authorities still favor foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and State-owned enterprises (SOEs) over others.

The active government indicator declined from 4.19 to 4.17 points. Meanwhile, the indicator of business support services went down from seven to 6.82 points and that of the legal environment slid from 5.04 to 4.25 points.

In terms of transparency, many investors are now expressing their interest in the city, but municipal agencies are not really helpful, said Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the Department of Planning and Investment.

For example, regarding access to land, when businesses need land to expand their production, they look for equal government support regardless of the type of enterprise. Thus, it is not right to let private firms say the municipal government favors FIEs or SOEs, Minh said.

HCMC vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen said that although the city’s access to land indicator improved in 2016, there is still the state of people asking or even giving bribes for land planning quotas. In the coming time, it should be all made public to citizens.

On informal charges, Tuyen suggested city departments and districts strengthen their dialogues with enterprises, encourage them to abandon corrupt practices, since a healthy clean government needs joint efforts from both authorities and society.

In addition, the city will accelerate online public services that reduce direct contact between civil servants and citizens as well as businesses in an attempt to prevent harassment and bring down informal costs.

Meanwhile, to better the indicator of fair competition, the city is looking to build a center for entrepreneurship that will assist enterprises in investment and guide them to do business in all fields. This center will also offer consultancy, help foreign enterprises directly contact the city’s policies and planning to facilitate their investment, and act as a bridge between investors and policies as well as planning in an open and transparent manner.

Moreover, the city will study the formation of its own survey with the criteria suitable for the city. The survey will be conducted every six months, starting early this June (by the HCMC Institute of Economics), which will poll both domestic and foreign investors concerning the issues of their concerns such as taxation, publicity and transparency of planning and procedures.

“We should make State agencies a place for enterprises to rely on rather than their obsession when they want to do business here,” Tuyen said at the meeting on April 11.

- Saigontime- 

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