HCM City – Industrial and processing parks in HCM City have not developed to their potential due to poor infrastructure and a lack of connection among the parks, delegates said at a weekend seminar.

Speaking on the 25^th anniversary of the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority (HEPZA), Nguyễn Thiện Nhân, the municipal party secretary said: “Related authorities and HEPZA should review and clarify a new development plan for industrial and processing parks based on high-tech enterprises."

Former assistant of the minister of planning and investment Nguyễn Văn Kích confirmed that HCM City was the first locality in Việt Nam to open and lead the development of industrial and processing parks, but recently, its role in industrial and processing parks has declined.

“The development master plan of industrial and processing parks hasn’t clarified inter-regional, inter-industry and production chain connectivity,” he said.

HCM City forgotten

“In particular, the role of HCM City as the biggest economic hub in Việt Nam has been forgotten. In the past, industrial and processing parks in HCM City were not always able to anticipate and prepare for key sectors that require high technology, high intelligence and high competitiveness, such as electronics, information technology, telecommunications, bio-tech and engineering,” Kích added.

Professor Nguyễn Trọng Hoài from HCM City Economics University suggested that HEPZA should encourage industrial clusters to create close linkages with support industries. “Existing industrial parks should be improved under the principle of a strong connection among manufacturing enterprises and the consumption system,” he said.

Hoài also urged that all enterprises still located in residential areas should be moved into industrial parks to help protect the environment of those areas.

Former director of Tân Thuận Limited company Phan Chánh Dưỡng called on HEPZA to create economic development on a foundation of industrial and processing parks.

“Right now, industrial and processing parks should not only be concerned about how to attract investors but they also should participate in promoting technological innovation with existing enterprises as well as promoting the development of industrial and processing parks in line with specific professional requirements,” Dưỡng said.

Twenty-five years after the first industrial and processing park was established, 4,500 hectares out of a total of 8,900 hectares in 19 parks have been put in use. 

“Most projects are small and the proportion of high-tech, high-value added projects are small too,” Nguyễn Hoàng Năng, head of the HEPZA, said.

“Master planning hasn’t met the demands of development. There are so many small industrial parks located in different places and there is no connection between them,” he added.

“Industrial and processing parks haven’t used land for social welfare projects.”

“The most important thing is that the “one-gate” management model being applied for HEPZA hasn’t been established by law, only at the decree level. Therefore, it is very hard for us to manage and to develop,” Năng added. -- VNS