Removing land-related bottlenecks to attract investment.

Businesses are desperate for space...

Hung Thinh Cao Bang Mineral Joint Stock Company is headquartered in Pac Mieu town, Bao Lam district. Currently, the company is implementing a lead and zinc mining project at the Ban Bo mine, located in Mong An and Thai Hoc communes, Bao Lam district. All extracted minerals are processed at the company's beneficiation plant and sold as lead and zinc products to domestic businesses. With the goal of continuing to invest in the deep processing of minerals, creating jobs, increasing revenue, and contributing to the state budget, since 2023, the company has submitted a request to the Cao Bang Provincial People's Committee for approval to invest in the construction of a lead and zinc smelting plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons/year. The construction site is located in Chu Trinh Industrial Park, Cao Bang city.

Mr. Vu Van Thang, General Director of Hung Thinh Mineral Joint Stock Company, shared that, according to the plan, the lead-zinc smelting plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons/year, when completed, will create jobs for 50 local workers and increase the company's tax contributions. However, to date, the company's plan to build the new plant remains only on paper. The reason is the lack of land for construction; the Chu Trinh Industrial Park is still facing land clearance issues and has not yet been able to provide a clean site for the company to proceed with the plant construction.

Similarly, the Agricultural Development and Environmental Consulting Company Limited (DACE) began building and developing raw material areas in Cao Bang province in 2015. After 10 years, DACE has partnered with 3,014 farmers to cultivate agricultural products, and indirectly purchased products from more than 7,500 farmers in the districts of Ha Quang, Thach An, Trung Khanh, Hoa An, Bao Lam, etc. The total area of DACE's raw material area in Cao Bang currently reaches 2,300 hectares, with key crops such as ginger, turmeric, chili, cinnamon, star anise, and lemongrass, cultivated using organic and regenerative agriculture methods. The company purchases agricultural products at stable prices and provides comprehensive support to farmers by supplying seeds, materials, technical training, building advanced farming models, and investing in infrastructure serving production such as internal roads, warehouses, and water reservoirs. From this raw material area, DACE's products have been exported to many countries such as the US, Japan, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia, and South Korea, contributing to a higher position for Vietnamese agricultural products in the global market. On average, the company purchases about 6,000 to 7,000 tons of agricultural products from Cao Bang each year, with a value ranging from tens to over 100 billion VND, for processing and export at market prices. To increase the added value of local agricultural products, DACE is promoting investment in three agricultural processing plants in Cao Bang province.

Mr. Tran Van Hieu, Director of DACE Company, stated: The processing plant in Thach An district has secured the land and is currently completing the construction procedures. Regarding the ginger processing plant in Ha Quang district, although progress has been made over the past two years, the project has not yet been implemented. A public land area of over 4,000m² in Na Chang, Xuan Hoa town, has been introduced by the province and included in the planning, but the auction procedures for granting land use rights have not yet been carried out. As for the plant planned for construction in Chu Trinh Industrial Park, Cao Bang, there is still no start date due to land clearance issues within the industrial park. “The lack of land for factory construction forces DACE Company to transport materials to other provinces for processing, increasing costs and reducing the efficiency of the local supply chain,” Mr. Hieu emphasized.

Unfinished projects and wasteful spending at Chu Trinh Industrial Park.

The Chu Trinh Industrial Park, covering nearly 81 hectares, began construction in 2017. To date, only over 17 hectares of land have been cleared, and some infrastructure items such as internal roads, electricity, water supply, and wastewater treatment systems have been completed, with a total investment of over 152 billion VND. However, the remaining land clearance area (67 hectares) cannot be completed due to obstacles related to the conversion of natural forest land use and environmental impact assessment procedures.

According to Mr. Ly Quoc Khanh, Deputy Head of the Cao Bang Provincial Economic Zone Management Board, the Board is very concerned about the unfinished and problematic construction of the Chu Trinh Industrial Park, especially since many businesses, cooperatives, and investors from within the province, domestically, and internationally are coming to explore investment opportunities and need land to build factories.

According to the leaders of the Provincial Economic Zone Management Board, the reason why the Chu Trinh Industrial Park project is incomplete and has not yet been effective is due to prolonged obstacles in land clearance for the remaining 67 hectares. While the investment project for the construction of the Operations Center, gate, and land clearance for the Chu Trinh Industrial Park, with a total investment of 90 billion VND, was approved by the Cao Bang Provincial People's Council on May 25, 2022, the project implementation process has been hampered by delays in procedures for converting the land use of natural forests and assessing environmental impact reports, as well as changes in policies regarding the unit price for reforestation. Specifically, according to the project's feasibility study, the cost of reforestation was approximately 2.5 billion VND; after the approval of the land use conversion and the application of new policies, the unit price for reforestation increased to 13.7 billion VND.

To resolve this issue, the Cao Bang Provincial Economic Zone Management Board proposed to the Provincial People's Committee to adjust the investment policy for the project, postponing the investment in the industrial park's operations center and allocating funds to land clearance. To date, the land clearance procedures for the Chu Trinh Industrial Park are still in progress, while many investors, businesses, and cooperatives are still waiting for cleared land to build their factories.

Removing the "bottleneck" regarding land availability early on will not only help resolve difficulties for businesses but also create momentum for production and business development, increase the added value of local products, contribute to economic growth, and create jobs in Cao Bang province.

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