HCMC High-Tech Park grants environmental permits, approve project construction on its own

The Saigon High-Tech Park (SHTP) in Ho Chi Minh City has the authority now to grant environmental permits and approve project construction, Huynh Ngoc Dao, chief of the office of the park’s management board, said Tuesday.

Dao revealed the information at a meeting with businesses that the authority derived from implementing the National Assembly’s Resolution 98 dated June 24, 2023 on distinct mechanisms for HCMC development.

She said this re-granted SHTP the power to license, appraise, and approve environmental impact reports. It can also appraise and approve construction conditions based on 1/500-scale planning for investment projects.

“These powers have re-established an on-site one-stop-shop mechanism for handling administrative procedures during the project investment process. The SHTP used to have the above mentioned powers earlier, but changes in laws transferred them to specialized agencies,” she said.

For example, land procedures fell under the authority of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, while planning procedures were handled by the Department of Planning and Architecture. Dao said this had prolonged the time taken to carry out investment procedures and affected progress of projects in the SHTP.

Under the authority of interdisciplinary agencies, it took businesses two years to complete procedures for project construction, instead of the earlier six months.

The SHTP official said that the nature of high-tech industries was to develop products and bring them to market quickly. Prolonged processing time could cause the products to lose their technological edge and reduce investment efficiency, she said.

Under the new mechanism, as of end-March, the SHTP had handled 18 applications for environmental licenses and six for appraising construction conditions for projects.

Dao said that her unit has proposed that the SHTP management board be allowed to carry out procedures for inspecting and sanctioning units that violate environmental laws; as also appraise and solve problems related to construction works in the park.

SHTP director Nguyen Anh Thi said that the newly-issued Resolution 98 and the government's Decree 10/2024 on incentives for high-tech parks have established an institutional framework for the SHTP to implement the on-site one-stop-shop mechanism.

"This was an important factor in administrative procedures that allows projects to be implemented quickly in key areas like semiconductor microchips, aerospace and biotechnology," he added.