Encompassing an area of over 1,370 square kilometers and having a population of 1.18 million, Vinh Phuc province is located in the Red River delta. It borders Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang provinces in the north, Hanoi in the south, Phu Tho province in the west and Soc Son and Dong Anh districts of Hanoi in the east. It is home to seven ethic groups with Kinh (Viet) being the most populous, followed by San Diu, Nung and Dao. It has a provincial city (Vinh Yen), a town (Phuc Yen) and seven districts (Binh Xuyen, Lap Thach, Tam Duong, Tam Dao, Vinh Tuong, Yen Lac and Song Lo).
FDI attraction
Lying along National Highway 2 and the Hanoi-Lao Cai expressway and adjacent to the Noi Bai International Airport, Vinh Phuc province is covered by the Red River delta, northern key economic region and Hanoi capital region master plans. The province is also situated along the Yunnan (China) - Lao Cai - Hanoi - Haiphong economic corridor. With two rivers - Red and Lo - running through, the province has favorable conditions to develop industrial parks and promote export production.
The province is striving to become a modernity-oriented industrial province by 2020 and eventually become Vinh Phuc city under the Prime Minister-approved plan. The province has so far completed the formulation of the provincial urban master plan through 2030, with a vision toward 2050, and a master plan on development of 18 industrial parks through 2020 on a total land area of over 5,870 hectares.
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| A bird eye’s view of Flamingo Dai Lai resort, Vinh Phuc province __Photo: tinmoitruong.vn |
In an open letter to investors, Chairman of the Vinh Phuc provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Tri calls for investment in mechanical engineering, automobile and motorbike industries; supporting industries; electronics, telecommunications; new construction and light material industries; agriculture, forestry and fisheries product processing; industrial park infrastructure; hotels, tourism, and logistics services.
According to the Vinh Phuc Investment Promotion Agency, in November 2015, one project was shifted from domestic direct investment to foreign direct investment with an increased capital of over USD 16.2 million. The province has recently permitted three existing projects to add USD 14 million to their registered investment capital. It has also permitted one ongoing project to slash its investment capital to USD 195,000, and terminated the operation of a USD 76.5-million project on building Ba Thien industrial park’s technical infrastructure.
By November 30, 2015, the province granted invested licenses to 26 new foreign investment projects totaling USD 264.37 million and permitted 23 existing projects to add USD 155.13 million to their capital. The province has so far attracted a total of 202 FDI projects with a combined registered capital of some USD 3.2 billion.
The above results were attributable to the special concern of the provincial People’s Committee to on-the-spot investment promotion activities. The province has successfully organized investment promotion activities in Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Singapore - potential investors and traditional markets of the province.
In addition, the province has constantly updated its database to promptly provide information to organizations, enterprises and investors who express their interest in the province’s investment opportunities. Noteworthy, the province has licensed Japan’s Sumitomo Group to build Thang Long III industrial park on an area of 213 hectares. The USD 1.5-billion project, the biggest of its kind in the province this year, is expected to help lure 79 smaller projects specializing in environmental-friendly and hi-tech spare part manufacturing industries.
At present, Vinh Phuc is home to many big economic groups’ workshops such as Japan’s Honda and Toyota, Italy’s Piaggio, Taiwan’s Foxconn, Compal and Fullpower, the RoK’s G.O. Max, Kumho and Lotte, and Singapore’s YCH and CPK Group.
The province went up 20 spots to enter the top ten best governed provinces and cities in the 2014 Provincial Competitive Index (PCI), reaching 6th rank with 61.81 points. The overall PCI comprises important sub-indices reflecting economic governance areas that affect private sector development, including entry and time costs, land access, transparency and informal charges. It also deals with policy bias, proactivity, business services and labor and provides policy-makers and provincial leaders with useful information and recommendations for action.
With the motto “Investors in Vinh Phuc are the province’s citizens, businesses’ success is the province’s success,” the provincial leaders have committed to create all favorable conditions for investors, promptly removing any difficulties facing businesses and flexibly applying the State’s policies in line with the province’s practical conditions.
Therefore, the Vinh Phuc Investment Promotion Agency has been set up to cut the time volume for investors to complete administrative procedures by between one-third and a half compared to that prescribed by current regulations.
Besides, investment projects in sectors on the list of sectors eligible for investment incentives will enjoy the highest incentives in accordance with the corporate income tax law.
If investing in manufacturing high-quality steel; energy-efficient products; agriculture, forestry, fisheries and salt-making tools; irrigation products; animal feed; or developing traditional crafts in areas with socio-economic difficulties, investors will be entitled to corporate income tax exemption for two years since having taxable income and 50-percent tax reduction in the subsequent four years. Investors in sectors ineligible for investment incentives will be subject to the common corporate income tax rate of 20 percent from January 1, 2016 until the end of their projects’ implementation.
In the coming time, the province hopes to attract FDI in hi-tech, supporting industry, energy-saving and environment-friendly projects.
To this end, Vinh Phuc will further reform administrative procedures for investment and develop its transport infrastructure and electricity and water supply system. It will also promote the enterprise-bank connection program and intensify meetings between the municipal authorities and FDI enterprises to quickly grasp the development of, and remove difficulties for, the latter.
Tourism potential
Vinh Phuc province has several famous tourist destinations, including Tay Thien ecological and spiritual tourism zone, Tam Dao National Park and Dai Lai lake, a large reservoir with a water surface area of over 500 hectares surrounded by green hills. It also owns bountiful tangible and intangible cultural values from some 1,000 historical-cultural relics. It is well-known for famous craft villages like Huong Canh ceramic village, Ly Nhan blacksmith village, Bich Chu carpentry village and Tho Tang merchants’ village.
The province welcomed 2.6 million tourists in the first nine months of this year, including 19,000 foreigners, and earned a turnover of VND 866 billion.
At the ninth Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival of ethnic groups in the northeastern region, themed “Northeastern region - convergence, solidarity and development” this year, Vice Director of the Vinh Phuc provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department Duong Quang Ung suggested state management agencies to enhance cooperation in the region in the exchange of experience in management, human resources training and creating tourist products. He also emphasized the necessity for the northeastern region to set up a regional tourism promotion fund, enhance cooperation in tourism infrastructure development, especially improving routes to intra-provincial and inter-provincial tourist spots.
In order to receive more than 80,000 foreigners and 3 million domestic tourists and earn a turnover of USD 105.2 million this year, the province will continue promoting the image of its land and people to international friends, improve tourist service quality and diversify tourist products.
Vinh Phuc strives to become one of the tourist service centers of the northeastern region and the country by 2020, and is expected to welcome 120,000 foreign holiday makers and 2.8 million domestic tourists and earn a turnover of USD 208.5 million by 2020.
To achieve the target, the province will encourage enterprises to invest in tourist infrastructure facilities and provide four types of tourism services, including spiritual, ecological, convalescence and convention tourism. It will also improve the quality of human resources for the tourism sector and cooperate with localities with tourist potential in tourism promotion.- (VLLF)
