Vietnam must 'green' industrial parks to welcome FDI capital flows

Businesses propose that there should be policies to accelerate the green transformation of industrial parks - Photo: NGOC HIEN

At the Vietnam Industrial Real Estate Forum 2024 organized by Investment Newspaper on July 30, experts "offered advice" for Vietnam to accelerate attracting new generation FDI investment.

Need to build green industrial zones

Mr. Vu Van Chung, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency ( Ministry of Planning and Investment ), said that the Government is resolutely reforming institutions, improving the investment and business environment and building policies to attract investment in new industries such as semiconductors and high-tech artificial intelligence (AI). The Government has even established working groups to work directly with investors with the aim of attracting and building policies to support investment.

In order for technology "eagles" to choose Vietnam, Mr. Chung said that the challenge that industrial parks and industrial park developers must meet is to improve the quality of industrial parks, increase their scale, have more modern and synchronous infrastructure, and ensure a greener environment...

In addition, Mr. Chung said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment is advising the Government to build a mechanism to selectively attract investment related to the AI ​​and semiconductor industries, and when approved, this will be a great resource to attract foreign investment.

Mr. Hardy Diec, CEO of Vietnam Industrial Park Group, said that Vietnam is in the sights of many multinational companies, but FDI enterprises are still hesitant about some administrative barriers.

Mr. Hardy Diec commented that if these barriers are broken down, FDI "eagles" will pour into Vietnam, bringing with them an entire ecosystem, helping Vietnam compete better.

In addition, Mr. Hardy Diec assessed that greening is also a trend that FDI investors are interested in, so there should be industrial parks that focus on green environment, pay attention to ESG (environment, society and governance), reduce carbon emissions...

Businesses prioritize renting in green industrial parks

Ms. Le Thi Huyen Trang, senior director of research and consulting (JLL Vietnam), commented that Vietnam is at a turning point in attracting semiconductor enterprises and Vietnam needs to do it faster because other countries are also competing. According to Ms. Trang, the green conversion of industrial parks is costly in the early stages, and there needs to be support in terms of capital and policies to put the greening model into practice.

Meanwhile, Mr. Paul Tonkes, Deputy Executive Director of Industrial Real Estate (Indochina Kajima Development Company), assessed that the trend of sustainable development and greening is increasingly attracting the attention of industrial park developers and reality also shows that many customers come to industrial parks because of the "greenness" and "sustainability" of the project.

According to Mr. Paul Tonkes, locating factories in green projects will help businesses realize green development goals, offset emission taxes, and open export doors to markets with high requirements for environmental certificates.

Proposal for policies for green transition

Mr. Paul Tonkes proposed that there should be policies and mechanisms to encourage green development and sustainable development, thereby helping investors grasp the direction and be more confident when investing and converting green for industrial park projects.

"The need for green transition is growing stronger, if before it was still an option, now it is a mandatory direction. Feedback from tenants shows that energy is a big issue that businesses are very interested in, especially semiconductor businesses. In the current context, rooftop solar power is a good solution for investors," said Mr. Paul Tonkes.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-phai-xanh-hoa-cac-khu-cong-nghiep-de-don-dong-von-fdi-20240730220007782.htm