An Hiệp Industrial Park in Bến Tre Province by Hàm Luông River, which runs into the East Sea. The province plans to develop towards the East with 50,000 hectares of coastal area by 2050. — VNA/VNS Photo

BẾN TRE — The southern province of Bến Tre is striving to attract investors to its coastal areas as a move to realise its goal of developing its eastern part.

According to chairman of the Bến Tre People's Committee Trần Ngọc Tam, the provincial planning for the 2021-30 period with a vision to 2050, highlights Bến Tre's commitment to developing towards the East, encompassing 50,000 hectares of coastal area.

Developing the province’s eastern part is one of its key and breakthrough tasks set in the Resolution of the 11th provincial Party Congress for the 2020-25 term. This direction will create a new momentum, opening up a space for comprehensive socio-economic development for the province with a goal of making Bến Tre a fairly developed province by 2030 and a livable place by 2050.

Tam said that under the province’s orientation to develop 50,000 hectares towards the sea, the province seeks investment in the fields of aquaculture, energy, seaports, and logistics to develop trade services, tourism and coastal urban areas.

Of the total areas to be reclaimed from the sea, the land reclamation in Bình Đại District will be the largest with about 21,000 hectares, followed by Thanh Phú District with 15,000 hectares, and Ba Tri District about 14,000 hectares.

Developing fisheries, energy, transportation, and logistics is considered as sea-based economic spearheads that will help the province to go prosperous, Tam said.

"The reclaimed sea area in the east of Ba Tri – Bình Đại – Thanh Phú districts is identified as an important driving economic zone that brings opportunities to help Bến Tre become a fairly developed province, a livable locality in the Mekong Delta and the whole country," Tam said.

The province has been promptly implementing preferential mechanisms and policies to realise the goals.

The provincial official said that for investment projects in the three coastal districts of Ba Tri, Bình Đại, and Thanh Phú, investors will enjoy a policy of land rent exemption for 11 years after finishing basic construction; the highest preferential corporate income tax rate of 10 per cent applied for the first 15 years, and the four-year exemption and 50 per cent reduction of tax payable for the next nine years.

For projects with private investment, in addition to incentives offered by the Government, investors will enjoy specific incentive mechanisms and policies for specific localities.

In terms of infrastructure investment in industrial parks and industrial clusters, investors will enjoy incentives in terms of land rent exemption and reduction, and area-based preferential tax rates.

Investors will also be supported with compensation costs for site clearance up to 20 per cent when investing in industrial cluster infrastructure and up to 30 per cent in industrial park infrastructure. The maximum land lease term is 50 years.

When investing in projects in Châu Thành, Giồng Trôm, Chợ Lách, Mỏ Cày Nam, Mỏ Cày Bắc districts, investors will be exempted from land rent for seven years after the end of the basic construction period. Investors will enjoy tax incentives at a corporate tax rate of 17 per cent applied for the first 10 years, and a two-year exemption and 50 per cent reduction of tax payable for the next four years.

In case there is no taxable income in the first three years, from the first year of revenue from the new investment project, the tax reduction and exemption period will be calculated from the fourth year.

In addition, Bến Tre has also issued policies and regulations on investment incentives for secondary projects inside and outside industrial parks; and policies for investment projects in rural agriculture and a resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to support start-ups, leading enterprises, small- and medium-sized enterprises in the province.

Preferential policies on tax, land lease, and support for human resource training are built by the province in the direction of the highest incentives compared to the whole country.

In particular, investors only need to work with a single contact point at the Investment Promotion and Start-up Centre to get support.

In the first nine months of 2024, Bến Tre issued investment registration certificates for five projects, including a foreign direct investment (FDI) project with registered capital of US$2.65 million and four domestic ones with registered capital of VNĐ82.75 billion ($3.3 million).

Up to now, the province has had 330 valid investment projects inclduing 68 FDI projects with a total registered capital of more than $1.66 billion and 262 domestic projects with a total registered capital of over VNĐ59.5 trillion ($2.4 billion). — VNS