Coupling Investment Attraction with IZ Development

Not only facilitating tenants in industrial zones, Bac Ninh also strives to remove bottlenecks, speed up industrial zone development and attract investment funds. The province has been among the largest destinations for investment inflows in the country for many years in a row, basically met industrialization criteria, become an economic growth engine in the Red River Delta and gradually moved toward a centrally governed city.

Yen Phong Industrial Park, Bac Ninh province

Scaling up green industrial zone model

At present, Bac Ninh has 16 industrial zones with 24 infrastructure projects. 16 of them have been put into operation and eight are under construction (three FDI projects and 21 domestic projects). Their total area is 6,397.68ha and the occupancy rate is 54%.

To date, the Bac Ninh Industrial Zones Authority has issued 1,844 investment certificates (1,262 FDI projects and 582 domestic projects) with a total investment capital of US$24.21 billion, of which US$20.93 billion came from FDI projects and VND71,052.81 billion (US$3.28 billion) was invested by domestic projects. The province has attracted investors from 37 countries and territories such as Japan, South Korea, the EU and the US. Tenants in industrial zones have helped raise the industrial value, export value, as well as State budget income, and played a significant role in socioeconomic growth and stability.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Bac Ninh Industrial Zones Authority, said: To make Bac Ninh a centrally run city, the province determines that investment attraction plays an important role and is a key resource to engage companies in socio-economic development. The private economy has become an important driving force of the economy and the foreign-invested economy is an integral part of it.

In the coming time, the province will continue to focus on investing in completing the industrial zone infrastructure, speeding up selective, green investment attraction and prioritizing projects that use new advanced energy-efficient technologies. Investment attraction must be associated with the knowledge economy, high-tech production and sustainable development, based on its project selection criteria: Using less land, less manpower; having higher economic efficiency, higher budget contribution and higher technological content.

Bac Ninh will focus on developing supporting industries of high development demands and advantages in line with its development approaches, including electronic component manufacturing and assembling, precision engineering, supporting industries for high-tech industries, and food and beverage production.

Besides, the province will stimulate digital transformation in industrial production and Industry 4.0 application to production; encourage investment in research and development, technology transfer, invention transfer and initiatives from foreign R&D firms and organizations; and improve technological competences.

Currently, the province has developed, approved and implemented the Bac Ninh overall environmental protection project for 2019-2025. In particular, investment certificates will not be granted to projects using outdated production technology, resource-intensive technology and high environmental risks. This is also an important factor for Bac Ninh to sharpen its competitiveness in investment attraction.

Workers at a Samsung factory in Bac Ninh province

Supporting investors

With the working principle "The Success of investors is the success of the Bac Ninh Industrial Zones Authority", along with the process of industrial zone construction and development, administrative reform is always paid special attention. As one of the first units of Bac Ninh province to apply the ISO-standard quality management system since 2007, the compliance control of administrative procedures has been performed regularly and continuously at the Bac Ninh Industrial Zones Authority.

Accordingly, the authority regularly improves the quality of administrative complaint settlement within its jurisdiction; and reviews effective administrative procedures and makes amendments, supplements and replacements to improper administrative procedures. At the same time, it publicizes administrative procedures, updates administrative procedure settlement results on its website and publicly lists its administrative procedures at the Provincial Public Administration Center. It strictly implements regulations on single-window regulations on administrative procedure settlement.

Director Nguyen Van Phuc said, in 2022 and early 2023, the Bac Ninh Industrial Zones Authority did not allow delaying administrative procedures and 100% of online public services were handled in time. Among its 43 administrative procedures, Category 3 and Category 4 account for 18, or 44% of the total (13 procedures belong to Category 3 or 30%, and five procedures belong to Category 4, or 14%). Among 26 administrative procedures handled at the office, 10 procedures were frequently submitted and processed, accounting for 38%.

Besides, while accompanying investors and businesses, the authority effectively joined the Business Support Team and organized quarterly investment promotion conferences for businesses from major investing countries like South Korea, Japan, Singapore and China.

Currently, Bac Ninh is reviewing the industrial zone development plan and, at the same time, developing transport, irrigation, electricity, water, post and telecommunications infrastructure to woo investors into industrial zones. Doing so, the province hopes to base on available resources to entice investment flows being redirected globally to the province to form centers of industrial development, technological research, application and transfer to soon realize its goal of becoming a centrally run city.

By Ngoc Tung, Vietnam Business Forum