Optimistic Investment Attraction in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs

The post-COVID-19 picture of investment attraction in Dung Quat Economic Zone (EZ) and industrial parks (IPs) in Quang Ngai province has brightened. In 2022 alone, tenants in economic and industrial zones paid VND26.6 trillion to the State Budget. To better understand investment attraction as well as business performance, our reporter has an interview with Mr. Ha Hoang Viet Phuong, Director of the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority.

Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex

Could you please introduce the remarkable results of investment attraction of Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs in 2022?

In 2022, the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority licensed seven new projects and allowed seven existing projects to revise up their registered capital, with a total value of over US$125 million. In early 2023, the authority granted an investment certificate to Hoa Phat Dung Quat high-quality coil steel factory with a registered investment fund of VND3,200 billion (US$135 million).

In addition, on February 2, 2023, the authority signed a memorandum of understanding with VSIP Quang Ngai Company to invest US$280 million in 936-ha VSIP 2 Quang Ngai Industrial Park.

To date, as many as 346 valid projects have invested US$17.6 billion in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs, including 57 foreign investment projects with US$1.8 billion and 289 domestic investment projects with US$15.8 billion. 249 projects are operational. Gigantic projects such as Dung Quat Oil Refinery No. 1; Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex; projects of Quang Ngai Sugar Company, Doosan Heavy Industries and General Electric; Messer Gas Plant, VSIP Quang Ngai Industrial, Urban and Service Park have created spillover effects and development steps of Dung Quat EZ.

In early 2022, the COVID-19 epidemic was controlled and this provided favorable conditions for manufacturing of tenants in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs. Their industrial production and services was estimated at VND262 trillion and their tax payment to the State Budget was forecast at VND26.6 trillion. They recruited 6,000 new employees in the year, bringing the total workforce in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs to 65,000 workers.

After 26 years of development, Dung Quat EZ has made a remarkable development, regarded as one of pioneering and successful economic zones in the country, a growth nucleus and a driving force for socioeconomic development of Quang Ngai province and the Central Key Economic Zone.

Indeed, impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic along with difficulties in land compensation, site clearance and resident resettlement have greatly affected the progress of investment projects in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs. How has the authority addressed these problems?

To remove bottlenecks in land compensation and site clearance, the Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority will coordinate with other agencies to focus on solving difficulties relating to land policies in economic zones; work with localities to support land compensation, site clearance and residential resettlement, and apply a workable resettlement residential construction mechanism.

The authority will continue to support large-scale and pervasive projects like the project to expand the capacity of Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex (from 4 million to 6 million tons a year) and Hoa Phat Dung Quat 2 Iron and Steel Production Complex; the project to upgrade and expand Dung Quat Oil Refinery; the project to build Dung Quat into a national center for oil refining, petrochemical and energy; infrastructure projects for industrial, urban, commercial, tourism and service zones; the project to build Ly Son into the maritime tourism center as per Resolution 26 of the Politburo (13th term). At the same time, the authority will concentrate on reviewing and promptly removing difficulties in project implementation for investors to deploy their projects smoothly.

The Prime Minister approved the Adjustment Project for the Master Plan for Dung Quat Economic Zone Construction of Quang Ngai province to 2045. Would you mind telling us about the role and importance of the master plan to economic development of Quang Ngai Province as well as the region?

Dung Quat EZ is a general economic zone for different industries. It will have a national center of oil refining and petrochemical, national energy, mechanical engineering and metallurgy and a large regional logistics center in order to promote and effectively operate Dung Quat deepwater port and Chu Lai airport, the important hubs of cargo transportation international trade in the Central Coast and the Central Highlands.

The area of Dung Quat Economic Zone to 2045 is 45,332 ha, including 33,581 ha of land area, 1,039 ha of Ly Son Island and 10,711 ha of water surface. In this planning project, Quang Ngai plans to turn Dung Quat EZ into one of dynamic marine economic centers of the national economy. At the same time, the province will take the coastal urban landscape as an attraction and take infrastructure development as a foundation to boost the marine economy towards prosperity. The economic zone is aimed to become a driving force for development of the central key economic region, one of important hubs of transportation and merchandise exchange. It will also play an important role in national security and defense.

The Dung Quat Economic Zone and Quang Ngai Industrial Parks Authority holds a conference aimed to support and connect symbiotic production chains that conjointly supply and consume products made by their companies for mutual development

In 2023, to attract more investment flows into the economic and industrial zones, which key tasks and solutions will the authority focus on?

The adjustment project for the master plan for Dung Quat EZ construction to 2045 was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 168/QD-TTg dated February 28, 2023. So, the authority will make efforts to detail the zoning map on a 1-to-2000 scale; draw projects to develop supporting industries for oil refining, petrochemical, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, food and beverage, wood processing, electricity and electronics industries. At the same time, the authority will attract big projects to create a driving force for developing a logistics center in Dung Quat Port and connect with provinces in the Central Key Economic Zone. It will pay attention to attracting projects with advanced, modern and environmentally friendly technologies to ensure sustainable development goals.

At the same time, we will also prepare land, infrastructure and utility services for new investors and maximize potential and advantages of the economic zone for local socioeconomic development in the coming years.

In the past time, the technical infrastructure system in Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs has continued to be invested, expanded and completed in a modern direction, synchronized with diversified investment forms. A lot of major traffic works linked to industrial zones, embankments, residential areas and resettlement areas have also been invested and constructed. However, due to limited investment capital, all demand for development has not been fully met, especially traffic infrastructure and residential infrastructure. In the coming time, the authority will propose the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council and the Provincial People's Committee to consider and allocate investment resources for completing technical infrastructure, especially traffic infrastructure and residential infrastructure. Additionally, it will arrange the fund for upgrading and repairing the local infrastructure system to ensure investment attraction, freight transportation, production and business needs of domestic and foreign companies in order to fully unlock advantages of the coastal economic zone.

The authority will create an open, favorable and competitive business and investment environment; focus on promoting industries and fields where Dung Quat EZ and Quang Ngai IPs have comparative advantages like urban development, sea and island tourism, commerce, coastal services, seaport-based industries, land-extensive projects, supporting industries for steel and petrochemical manufacturing; steel manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and export processing; light industries and processing industries; seaport and logistics services so as to develop Dung Quat EZ into a port service center to meet development needs of the region.

Thank you very much!

By Duy Anh, Vietnam Business Forum