IZs have been mushrooming in Mekong Delta over the last 10 years. The agricultural land here is cheap; therefore, investors do not have to spend too much money to compensate local residents for site clearance. Since the houses here are just short-lived, it is not too costly to relocate them. Therefore, it is easier in Mekong Delta to implement IZ projects than in any other places in the country. This has prompted investors to rush to pour money into IZ projects.
Hunting for projects
Just spending minimal money to compensate local residents for site clearance, investors surely can make fat profit right after they fulfill the construction of the infrastructure system in IZs, simply because the land price increases every day.
A lot of businessmen have been flocking to Long An province to hunt for IZ projects, especially the ones on “golden land areas”. Some of them seek projects for themselves, while others just act as “brokers”, who look for projects for… others to get “commissions” which are sometimes worth billions of dong. Other investors just try to obtain investment licenses from local authorities and then transfer the projects to others immediately.
That explains why just within a short period, 30 IZs and 40 small industrial workshop clusters were established in Long An province. The fact that the investor of an project in Can Giuoc district transferred the project right after he got a license once stirred up the project. However, such a thing now does not surprise anyone more.
Another project on an IZ development in An Nhut Tan commune was licensed to the Long An Steel Company. However, in fact, the project has changed hands.
Most recently, the Long An provincial people’s court brought a fraud case into trial. Do Van Son, the defendant, told his “client” that he could lobby for obtaining the investment license for building a 200 hectare IZ in Duc Hoa district, if the client, an enterprise in HCM City accepted to pay him 13 billion dong.
Son has also been found as the cheater in another case, where he also promised to help an enterprise in HCM City to obtain the investment license for a project in Long An province.
IZs remain quiet
There are 8 IZs in Can Tho City, but only two of them – Tra Noc 1 and Tra Noc 2 - have completed infrastructure systems and have nearly fully occupied.
Meanwhile, two IZs, O Mon and Bac O Mon, are still under the planning period. Three others, Hung Phu 1 (262 hectares), Hung Phu 2A (134 hectares) and Hung Phu 2B (967.27 hectares) have been left idle for the last many years.
In Hung Phu 1, what has been done in the last 10 years is the resettlement residential quarter.
In October 2007, the Binh Thuy industrial workshops’ cluster project, which is expected to cover an area of 63 hectares, was approved. However, the project has not attracted any investors so far.
In Hau Giang province, the Song Hau IZ in Chau Thanh district, which has existed for the last five years, still cannot produce. In April 2007, in the IZ, Vinashin started the construction a big shipbuilding yard capitalized at 60 tirllion dong. However, to date, the large area land remains unused.
In Vinh Long province, the My Thuan IZ took shape in 2000 after 400 households had to leave their homes and a lot of orchards were damaged. However, to date, the Saigon-Vinh Long brewery factory remains the only investor who has started the construction of its factory here in the third quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, the construction has been going very slowly.
According to the Can Tho Branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) that the occupancy rate at 70 IZs in Mekong Delta is 22 percent only, and that the land in the region has been wasting.
Source: Lao dong
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