Hai Phong free trade area development a new, visionary direction: minister

Hai Phong city’s plan to build the South Hai Phong Economic Zone with a free trade area as its nucleus reflects a new, bold and visionary direction, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.

At a Saturday ceremony to mark the 30th founding anniversary of the Hai Phong Economic Zone, he said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment will coordinate with relevant units to study, evaluate and appraise the scheme, and then submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

In order to realize the goal of turning Hai Phong into a marine economic hub in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and the world, the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (Heza) should focus on the development of new industrial park (IP) and economic zone (EZ) models, especially ecological and green IPs, he said.

Technology and innovation zones also need to be formed, he added.

Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Le Tien Chau assessed that the development of EZs and IPs has contributed to gradually developing Hai Phong into a leading city in Vietnam in terms of industrialization and modernization, as well as a driving force for the development of the northern region and the whole country.

“Heza must serve as the backbone in Hai Phong's economic restructuring based on three main pillars: high-tech industry, seaport - logistics, and tourism - trade,” he stressed.

According to Le Trung Kien, head of Heza, after 30 years of construction and development, industrial parks and economic zones in the city have created a driving force for socio-economic development, turning Hai Phong into a development engine in the northern region.

In Hai Phong, sea-based industrial urban areas, high-tech industrial centers, and international-class logistics and seaport systems have been built, he said.

The Prime Minister decided to establish the Hai Phong Export Processing Zone (now Do Son Industrial Park) in 1993 and the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone in 2008.

To date, the city has set up 14 industrial parks with a total area of more than 6,000 hectares and an occupancy rate of over 61%. The 22,540-hectare Dinh Vu-Cat Hai EZ has been synchronously invested, housing industrial parks, urban areas, and trade-seaport-logistics centers of international stature.

The local EZs and IPs have so far attracted nearly 800 investment projects, including 503 FDI projects with total investment capital of $25 billion, ranking Hai Phong sixth nationwide and second in the North in terms of investment attraction.

Since 2020, Hai Phong's investment attraction has increased sharply, estimated at $11 billion by the end of 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, the city lured nearly $3 billion, exceeding the yearly plan.

The South Hai Phong Economic Zone, the second of its kind in Hai Phong, is expected to cover about 20,000 hectares in the districts of Do Son, Kien Thuy, An Lao, Tien Lang and Vinh Bao.

It will house important infrastructure projects including Tien Lang airport, Nam Do Son port, and two logistics centers in Kien Thuy and Tien Lang, along with a port system along the Van Uc river, said Le Trung Kien, head of the management board.

Hai Phong city granted investment certificates to 11 foreign and domestic direct investment projects with total registered capital of $961 million and two social housing projects worth $400 million on September 22, or $1.36 billion in total.

The biggest one is a $500-million project invested by South Korea’s SK Group. The high-tech biodegradable material factory, called Ecovance, will cover 3.2 hectares in Deep C Hai Phong Industrial Park, within Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone.