Hi-tech parks seek breakthroughs

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan met online with two high-tech parks on February 26, listening to their proposals, which are aimed at removing obstacles to their growth.

The managing boards of the Hoa Lac High-tech Park (HHTP) in Hanoi and the Saigon High-tech Park (SHTP) in Ho Chi Minh City mentioned issues relating to construction, site clearance, investment attraction, administrative procedures, and human resources.

Mr Nhan asked them to concretize their suggestions on policies, mechanisms and capital and submit them to the Government before April 2010.

The Head of HHTP, Nguyen Van Lang, said the park’s site clearance completely stagnated in 2009 and the VND170 billion allocated for this will be disbursed later than scheduled. By the end of 2009, HHTP cleared only 834ha of land out of 1,586, or 53 percent of the target. Utilities like and EVN have not yet introduced any specific plan for building infrastructure there.

Meanwhile, representatives of SHTP said its site clearance has run smoothly, with more than 86 percent of its land area cleared for construction. However, it is desperately short of capital for infrastructure development. Under the current financial mechanism, Ho Chi Minh City has to pay 70 percent of the investment while the central government will account for the rest. The city has invested more than VND3,700 billion but received only VND830 billion from the central government.

Both parks cited the absence of a decree guiding the execution of the High-tech Law as another big difficulty. They also worried about the issue of human resources as they have not yet found a way to attract senior experts and high-skilled workers.

HHTP requested that the Government give budget priority to site clearance and resettlement projects and have ministries and the Hanoi People’s Committee accelerate the site clearance for projects receiving ODA funding from Japan.

SHTP urged the government to get ministry consensus on policies and procedures before legal documents on the operations of high-tech parks are issued. It also called for an early promulgation of a National Programme on the Development of High Technologies with the aim of helping localities get more proactive about their own plans.

Ho Chi Minh City asked the government to introduce a special stimulus package encouraging domestic enterprises to invest in the high-tech area, with priority given to manufacturers of high-tech products and businesses involved in high-tech research and development.

“It’s essential to create a turning-point in legal corridors that encourage the participation of domestic organizations and individuals, thereby reducing the heavy dependence on foreign direct investment (FDI),” insisted Nguyen Thanh Tai, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee.

As of 2009, HHTP had licensed just five investment projects capitalized at less than VND6,300 billion. SHTP now has 40 investors with a total investment of over US$1.7 billion. Seventeen projects in SHTP have been put into operation. In 2009 the park earned US$1.1 billion in revenue, mostly from exports.

Tags: Hoa Lac High tech Park, Saigon High tech Park, technology in vietnam, technology of vietnam, Vietnam hitech park, Vietnam Information technology, Vietnam IT, Vietnam technology