HCMC vows to cut hi-tech investment red tape

Ho Chi Minh City authorities on Monday pledged to solve time-consuming admin investors face in forming and running businesses in Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) to further drive the megacity’s growth.

“The city administration is determined to secure a pre-pandemic growth rate this year so that 2023 could see a take-off,” HCMC Chairman Phan Van Mai said at an SHTP investment promotion conference in Vietnam’s largest economic hub.

SHTP is the key high-tech focused business park in HCMC, and working out effective solutions for smoother administrative procedures for SHTP corporate tenants would help fuel HCMC's growth, thus driving Vietnam's economic expansion, he said.

The solutions include measures to solve bottlenecks related to land, construction and environmental protection, SHTP chief Nguyen Anh Thi said while mentioning ongoing efforts to minimize red tape so that investors could carry out their investment projects in the fastest manner allowed.

“We are in the process of setting up a one-door mechanism to deal with administrative procedures and other investment-related issues,” Thi noted.

He explained the administrative procedures currently begin with the SHTP Management Board then go on to the administration of Thu Duc city (home to SHTP) and other HCMC departments. The one-door mechanism under development would help simplify the process, making it faster.

At the conference, businesses urged the HCMC administration to streamline administrative procedures so they could carry out their projects and expand business operations without delay.

SHTP plays a significant role in HCMC's growth as it is home to lots of high-tech focused factories and facilities, including the Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) with $2 billion invested by Korean tech giant Samsung.

American giant chipmaker Intel started to invest in Vietnam in 2006, building Intel Products Vietnam (IPV) in SHTP as its single largest assembly and test plant within the major’s assembly and test network globally. With a total investment of $1.5 billion to date, it is the largest U.S. high-tech investment in Vietnam, and Intel is preparing for further expansions with new investments.

The SHTP chief noted that his park, established in 2002 as a destination for hi-tech investors worldwide in order to help Vietnam develop technical sectors, is building a new strategy for a new stage after 20 years, eyeing more projects with high scientific and technological content.

The park will prioritize projects with new and advanced technologies, Thi said.

SHTP deputy chief Le Bich Loan said SHTP currently houses 163 projects with a total capital of $12.068 billion, with more than $10.1 billion being foreign investments. The projects include businesses in ICT, micro-electronics, telecoms, bio-tech, precision mechanics, automation, and new and advanced energy.

The top operational investors in SHTP include Samsung, Intel, Schneider Electrics, NTT, Nidec, Jabil, Rockwell Automation, Microchip, TTI, Datalogic, and European healthcare giant Sanofi.

In mid-June, Asia Pacific-focused private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners announced the company had completed the acquisition of a greenfield plot in SHTP to develop it into a data center covering almost two hectares with an IT capacity of 20 megawatts.

Gaw Capital sees the new project in Vietnam as providing a foothold in a market that had just three facilities under development by October last year, according to an independent study, and saw just $420 million in investment during 2020.

“Through early entry into the [Vietnamese] market, it allows the firm to be well placed to serve unmet demand in the market, with that demand being further accelerated by a young, tech-savvy population, rapid pace of development of tech SMEs, and growing high-tech investments in the country,” Kok Chye Ong, head of data centers for Asia (excluding China) at Gaw Capital, said in the announcement.

Vo Sy Nhan, co-founder and CEO of Gaw NP Capital, said in the release, “Vietnam is one of the fastest growing regions in Southeast Asia exhibiting powerful macroeconomic trends and strong demand for internet data centers.

“We are confident about the data center sector in Vietnam and look forward to seeing the completion of this international data center project, which is located in our integrated business park, by 2024," he noted.

Gaw NP Capital was established in 2019 as a partnership between Gaw Capital Partners and NP Capital Partners, focusing on real estate development and investment management activities in Vietnam. By leveraging NP Capital’s network and local know-how and Gaw Capital’s development expertise, Gaw NP Capital hopes to tap into Vietnam-centric opportunities in the real estate and fast-growing new economy sectors.