HCM City woos investors
HCM City is taking urgent steps to tackling any and all difficulties to create a favourable business environment and encourage investors to stay.
The city is now home to 440,000 registered enterprises, 96.4% of which are domestic concerns and the remainder foreign-invested. The non-State economic sector contributed 54.7% to the city’s GDP last year while the foreign sector accounted for 19%.
Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, Le Thi Huynh Mai, said that since early this year the municipal People’s Committee has granted investment licenses and decisions on investment policies to 15 projects worth nearly US$2.37 billion, including the Thu Thiem Eco Smart City with total investment of VND20.1 trillion (US$873 million) in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, which is invested by the Republic of Korea’s Lotte Properties HCMC.
Public Affairs Director at Intel Products Vietnam, Ho Thi Thu Uyen, expressed a belief in the city’s leadership and mechanisms to expand investment, especially in hi-tech industry.
The city’s efforts have improved its governance and public administration efficiency.
One of its effective measures to attract investment is the establishment of a working team led by the Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong, which has cleared difficulties in site clearance, the granting of land use licenses, and improving the business climate.
Mai said the team dealt with difficulties faced by 92 projects, including 51 in real estate, 21 in technical infrastructure, 18 in social infrastructure, and two in production.
Municipal authorities assigned the Department of Planning and Investment to complete and issue a business environment improvement strategy before April. At the same time, the municipal Investment & Trade Promotion Centre and Department of Planning and Investment set up a unit to collect feedback from enterprises.
Regarding increasing the land base for industrial development, Phong said the Government has allowed the city to convert 1,999 ha of agricultural land into urban and industrial land and for transport infrastructure.
The city has also submitted a proposal to establish a hi-tech industrial park on 384 ha in Hoc Mon district.
It is striving to attract US$5.4 billion worth of FDI this year and establish 40,000 new enterprises in various areas.
