Creating new space to attract industrial investment in mountainous areas

The scale of industrial parks in mountainous areas is still small and has not made any breakthrough in attracting investment in many fields. — The scale of industrial parks in mountainous areas is still small, with no breakthrough in attracting investment in many fields. Illustration photo: PHAN VINH

Not worthy of potential

The Industrial Cluster (IC) of Hamlet Bon in Song Vang Commune is one of the rare areas that has achieved a high land exploitation rate right from the beginning. This IC has a total area of 7.2 hectares, of which 4.4 hectares of industrial land have been used by enterprises (occupancy rate of nearly 95%).

In particular, the wood processing factory of Nga Doanh Mien Trung Company Limited is operating with a scale of 15,000m3 of wood per year and Dong Giang Industrial Investment Joint Stock Company is implementing the Tuynel brick project with a capacity of 40 million bricks/year. The presence of these two projects helps create jobs for more than 100 workers in the commune, while promoting the planting of raw material forests in the region.

However, according to the report of Song Vang Commune People's Committee, Thon Bon Industrial Park still has many things to deal with to become a complete model. The 1/500 planning over the years has revealed shortcomings such as green trees arranged right between the plots of land causing the land to be separated, internal roads are not connected, some plots of land such as CN5, CN6 are located close to the hillside, posing a risk of landslides when the enterprise deploys infrastructure. This is the factor that makes many investors hesitant when coming to survey.

Meanwhile, at Nong Son Trade and Service Industrial Park, with a scale of nearly 15 hectares, there is only one enterprise operating in the garment sector, the rest of the area is still vacant. The expectation of an industrial chain associated with trade and services has not been able to take shape due to the lack of clean land, basic infrastructure, and core enterprises creating spillover forces.

Mr. Tran Van Doan, Vice Chairman of Nong Son Commune People's Committee, said that the businesses that came to survey all reflected quite similar barriers such as small, fragmented land, inadequate electricity and water infrastructure for industrial production, and limited connecting roads. Steep terrain and many areas of weak ground make the cost of site treatment high, reducing the attractiveness of the project.

“We know that to attract investment, industrial parks must have adequate infrastructure. However, local resources are limited, and the creation of clean land cannot be done as quickly as desired,” said Mr. Doan.

It is noted that other mountainous industrial parks have in common that many projects once had businesses interested, but when comparing the entire planning system, from land planning to construction planning, they had to be temporarily suspended pending adjustment. This makes the initial favorable time lost, causing businesses to consider shifting to other localities with more available land.

Create new momentum

From existing limitations, localities are proactively proposing many solutions to create breakthroughs in attracting industrial investment in mountainous areas.

Completing the infrastructure of industrial parks in a synchronous manner is an important step to attract industrial investment in mountainous areas. Photo: PHAN VINH

For Song Vang commune, the expansion of Thon Bon Industrial Park to phase 2 with an area of 37.8 hectares (increasing the total scale to 45 hectares) is considered an important step. A business has expressed its desire to participate in investing in the infrastructure of the expansion area, including ground treatment items, internal traffic roads, electricity and water systems and environmental impact assessment. If approved on schedule, phase 2 will open up a clean land fund suitable for light industries with little impact on the environment but with large land demand.

Mr. Le Van Tu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Song Vang Commune, said that over the past two years, the locality has welcomed five businesses to explore investment in the fields of forestry, livestock and eco- tourism . However, all of them stopped at the survey level because the land use planning is being comprehensively reviewed.

“What we need most right now is stable planning, clean land and clear incentive policies. When the planning is complete, businesses can confidently enter the project calculation phase. In addition, the commune also recommends that the city soon invest in an inter-commune route connecting Song Vang - Hai Van to shorten the freight transport chain, reduce logistics costs, a vital factor for industrial projects in the highlands,” said Mr. Tu.

In Nong Son, the orientation of attracting investment is based on the overall advantages of the locality. Mr. Tran Van Doan said that Nong Son aims to form industries associated with existing strengths such as processing forest products, agarwood, medicinal herbs, OCOP products and medium-scale supporting industries. To do this, there must be good infrastructure, clear land planning and substantial incentive policies.

From the actual operation of Nong Son Trade - Service Industrial Park, Nong Son Commune People's Committee also proposed to arrange capital to complete the main road, handle the foundation in landslide-prone areas, and have tax incentives in the early stages of the project; at the same time, it is necessary to shorten the time for appraising documents related to land and investment.

“Industrial parks can only truly develop their momentum when businesses have a foothold in the area. If they are stuck in planning, procedures or lack of clean land, it will be difficult to create a breakthrough. More importantly, attracting investment in mountainous areas must go hand in hand with protecting the environment and creating sustainable livelihoods for people, because only when the infrastructure is reliable enough for businesses to feel secure and jobs are stable enough for people to benefit, will the development direction that the locality pursues truly be meaningful,” Mr. Doan shared.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/tao-du-dia-moi-de-thu-hut-dau-tu-cong-nghiep-o-mien-nui-3311151.html