Lack of land fund is the main bottleneck causing large projects and foreign investment capital to continuously decrease in Ho Chi Minh City in recent years. Many industrial parks in the city were established by the Prime Minister 20 years ago, but have not been built yet due to land clearance problems.
To solve the problem of industrial land shortage, the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (Hepza) once proposed converting inefficiently exploited agricultural land into industrial and service land. However, this conversion process requires a lot of time and complicated procedures. In that context, the merger of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau has opened up a new approach.
According to experts, this merger not only has administrative significance, but also creates conditions for planning new industrial parks on a larger scale, with more systematic arrangements, suitable for the increasing needs of domestic and foreign investors.
Expanding administrative boundaries also helps localities have conditions to divide industrial development zones more clearly. Not only stopping at traditional industrial zones, localities can orient the development of specialized industrial complexes such as supporting industrial zones, specialized supporting industries, focusing on providing components and spare parts for key industries such as automobiles, electronics, semiconductors, etc.
Mr. Le Trong Hieu, Head of the Department in charge of real estate, industry and office of CBRE Vietnam, said that the policy of merging and adjusting administrative boundaries creates a shift in the planning and development orientation of industrial parks. For Ho Chi Minh City, expanding the scale of management can help the City possess larger resources, especially human resources.
According to Mr. Hieu, when a business decides to invest in Vietnam, they will consider many factors. For Ho Chi Minh City, this is no longer a location with competitive rental costs, but if we consider human resources, supply chains and especially the business ecosystem and residential communities surrounding industrial parks, Ho Chi Minh City still has very clear advantages. One of them is its geographical location near seaports, which helps optimize transportation costs and time.
“CBRE has advised many businesses, especially those with high demand for logistics, not only in the manufacturing sector, but also in industries such as automobiles - which require large warehouse systems. The reason is that, with large-capacity ships transporting special packages, after docking at the port, businesses need a place to assemble or serve as a distribution center. Such centers require a location near the port to optimize the supply chain. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City area has a certain advantage, playing the role of a distribution, assembly, and logistics center…”, Mr. Hieu said.
Mr. Tran Viet Ha, Deputy Head of Hepza, also said that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City will have 66 export processing zones and industrial parks, with a total land area of over 27,000 hectares. According to the plan, by 2050, the locality will have 105 export processing zones and industrial parks.
However, experts and businesses also pointed out challenges that need to be addressed to "unlock" the city's industrial growth potential.
Firstly, the infrastructure of beltways, highways, and logistics centers is slow to develop, causing the supply chain to lack continuity. Currently, only about 15% of imported and exported goods through Ba Ria - Vung Tau (old) are transported by inland waterways or railways, the rest depends on roads.
According to Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), first of all, priority should be given to completing Ring Road 3, Ring Road 4, Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau expressways, and Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressways. These are key routes that directly connect industrial parks, research and development centers, international seaports (Cat Lai, Hiep Phuoc, Cai Mep - Thi Vai) and regional ICDs.
Second, develop supporting industries and labor skills. Mr. Vo Son Dien, Marketing Executive Director of Becamex Corporation, said that many manufacturing enterprises depend on imported spare parts, components, and materials. Therefore, it is necessary to support the development of the basic materials industry, encourage large domestic enterprises to lead the supply chain, allocate resources to support supporting industry start-up projects, and develop international standard quality inspection centers.
Third, build a human resource training system. Mr. Pham Van Viet, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile and Fashion Association, said that there is no shortage of labor in terms of quantity, but there is a shortage of people to operate automatic machines, process production data, and control quality according to international standards. Therefore, in the context of transitioning to digital and high-tech industry, Ho Chi Minh City needs to build an advanced technical training system, closely linking universities, vocational colleges - enterprises - industrial parks.
The key solution is to build a training network with high-tech vocational centers; expand training in automation engineering, industrial design, digital control, smart logistics, and clean energy. In addition, green and circular industry is a global trend, associated with Net Zero 2050 commitments. Experts say that Ho Chi Minh City should pioneer the development of new industries, in which production efficiency is linked to environmental responsibility and comprehensive digitalization of processes.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/tphcm-nhe-ganh-noi-lo-quy-dat-phat-trien-cong-nghiep-d335977.html
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