Relocating Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park: A "Measurement" of Corporate Responsibility

Provincial Party Committee member and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Ho Van Ha (second from left) met and encouraged businesses to relocate their factories from Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park. Photo: Ban Mai

Provincial Party Committee member, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee Ho Van Ha (second from left) met and encouraged businesses to relocate their factories from Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park. Photo: Ban Mai

Currently, the conversion of the industrial park's function is both a legal requirement and an inevitable requirement for urban development and environmental protection. The cooperation of enterprises is a "measure" of responsibility for the development of the province, the community and the living environment.

Legal and practical requirements

Established in the 1960s, Bien Hoa 1 is the oldest industrial park in the country. The formation and development of the industrial park has great significance for the socio -economic development of the province, as well as the development of industrial parks in Vietnam in the future. Before 2010, realizing that maintaining a long-standing industrial park in the inner city, close to the Dong Nai River was not suitable for urban development planning and posed great risks to the domestic water source of millions of people, Dong Nai province proposed and was approved by the Central Government to change the function of this area.

At that time, although the policy was in place, the province still created maximum conditions for enterprises to maintain production activities. In 2021, the Government officially removed Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park from the list of industrial parks in Vietnam. After that, the province issued a Project to Convert the function of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park into an Urban - Commercial - Service Area and Environmental Improvement. These are two important legal bases for land acquisition and urban space reconstruction.

Provincial Party Committee member and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Ho Van Ha said that the policy of relocating Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park has been implemented for many years. Now is the time to take decisive action to implement the project, improve the environment, and rebuild the urban space in the central area of the province. According to the Provincial People's Committee leader, the determination of the government alone is not enough, but there needs to be the accompaniment of businesses and people. In case businesses deliberately delay, the province will apply administrative measures according to regulations to recover land, ensure the overall progress of the project and ensure fairness with the previous units.

In fact, up to now, 100% of households and most of the enterprises in the priority area have handed over the land or are dismantling their assets. According to Mr. Mai Phong Phu, Deputy Director in charge of the Provincial Land Fund Development Center, for the land used by enterprises, the center has cleared about 135/296 hectares, reaching a rate of about 46%. This is an encouraging result in the context of the industrial park having many enterprises directly leasing land and subleasing land with complicated assets and legal procedures; from July 1, the operation of the two-level local government, the approval of compensation and support plans by the commune level also affects the progress of the implementation of tasks to some extent.

Businesses need more responsible communities

Converting the function of old industrial parks is an unprecedented task in localities across the country. For Dong Nai, this is a strategic step to meet the requirements of modern urban development and environmental protection. In the process of implementing this policy, the province has issued documents according to regulations; provincial leaders have directly dialogued many times with enterprises to listen and resolve difficulties. In addition, provincial leaders have directed functional agencies to coordinate and support enterprises in finding suitable production locations; prioritize quick settlement of land, construction and environmental procedures at the new location.

According to the Project of Converting the Function of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park, the province will reclaim 329 hectares, divided into 3 areas: Urban - commercial - service area of about 50.5 hectares (area 1); Provincial political - administrative urban area of about 103.5 hectares (area 2); Urban - commercial - service area of about 175 hectares (area 3).

Besides the enterprises that have proactively relocated and handed over the site, there are still some units that are slow in implementing their commitments. Notably, in the 2 priority areas for site clearance. Specifically, in area 1, 3/11 enterprises have not signed the minutes or committed to the site handover deadline. In area 2, 7/17 enterprises have not committed to handing over the site.

Representatives of Bien Hoa Packaging Joint Stock Company, when working with the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee at the end of October, expressed that the company agreed with the relocation policy and had prepared two new locations, but the relocation of the entire existing factory needed more time to complete. Some companies also gave this reason to prolong the time to return the site.

According to Provincial Party Committee member and Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang, the relocation of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park is a strategic task, with the meaning of improving the environment, developing urban areas and promoting sustainable economy. The consensus and sense of responsibility of enterprises will contribute to speeding up the progress, soon realizing the goal of building a modern, green and livable urban space along the Dong Nai River.

The conversion of the function of Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Park is for the purpose of protecting the environment and sustainable development of the province, and at the same time, this is also a test of the awareness and social responsibility of enterprises. When the government has created all conditions for enterprises to produce and do business, committed to accompany them in the process of relocation and re-production, the relocation to hand over the site on time is a testament to the spirit of cooperation and accompanying the government in the goal of sustainable development of enterprises.

Ban Mai

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202511/di-doi-khu-cong-nghiep-bien-hoa-1-thuoc-do-tinh-than-trach-nhiem-cua-doanh-nghiep-d185ba6/