New proposal on management of industrial parks and economic zones

10/06/2021

(According to baochinhphu.vn) - The Ministry of Planning and Investment is drafting a Decree to replace Decree No. 82/2018/ND-CP of the Government regulating the management of industrial parks and economic zones.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, by the end of April 2021, nationwide, there are 575 industrial parks (IPs) in the master plan on development of industrial zones in Vietnam approved by the Prime Minister with a total natural land area is about 219,500 ha (accounting for 0.66% of the total land area of ​​the country). Industrial zones were established in 61 provinces and cities, mainly concentrated in key economic regions in order to promote the advantages of geographical location and economic development potential of the regions.

Regarding economic zones, there are 18 coastal economic zones established in 17 provinces and centrally run cities, with a total land and water surface area of ​​nearly 853,000 ha. In addition, 26 border gate economic zones have been included in the planning, in which priority is given to investment with capital from the budget to build synchronously in terms of infrastructure and model of organization and management policies for a number of border gate economic zones to operate with high efficiency; ensure security and order, effectively restrain and prevent all kinds of crimes and illegal activities related to the border gate economic zone.

Over the past time, industrial parks and economic zones have attracted a large amount of investment capital, providing important resources for development investment and promoting economic growth. Accumulated to the end of April 2021, IPs and EZs have attracted 10,148 domestic projects and 10,921 valid foreign-invested projects, with a total registered investment capital of about 2.52 million billion respectively and 230.2 billion USD.

Besides, over the past time, the National Assembly and the Government have issued new regulations on investment, enterprises, construction, environmental protection as well as other fields. In which, many regulations are directly related to investment and development activities of IPs and EZs such as investment order and procedures, authority and responsibility of relevant parties.

In that context, it is essential to develop and issue a Decree to replace Decree No. 82/2018/ND-CP to create a legal framework for investment and development of industrial zones and economic zones.

Adding a number of new regulations to ensure compliance with newly promulgated Laws

The draft Decree has added a number of new provisions to ensure compliance with the newly promulgated Laws as well as the reality of investment and development of industrial zones and economic zones in recent years, specifically as follows:

Regarding planning management and adjustment: Draft Decree supplementing regulations on construction direction and development plan for the system of industrial zones and economic zones. Specifically, the construction direction is a content in the regional planning, which identifies the objectives, orientations, solutions and implementation organization for the development of industrial parks and economic zones at the regional level. The plan to develop the system of industrial parks and economic zones is a content of the provincial planning, which determines the expected number, name, area and location of the IPs and EZ according to the district-level area of ​​the province or centrally.

Regarding decentralization of authority: The draft Decree authorizes and decentralizes the consideration and decision on newly granted projects, adjusting and expanding investment projects on construction and business of industrial park infrastructure according to one of the following criteria: two options: 1. Authorize the Minister of Planning and Investment; 2. Decentralization to the People's Committee of the province.

Regarding the conditions for considering and approving the investment policy of investment projects on construction and business of industrial park infrastructure, the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of contents is as follows:

The area of ​​the industrial zone is suitable to the investment attraction capacity in the province and centrally run city and is at least 75 ha; ensure to reserve at least 5% of the total industrial land area of ​​the IPs for small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting industrial enterprises, innovation enterprises, and other businesses subject to priority and support. in terms of production and business premises in accordance with the law on land lease and sublease.

The condition on occupancy rate (60%) is not applied in the following cases: (i) the total natural land area of ​​industrial zones in the province or centrally run city is less than 1,000 ha; (ii) The industrial park had previously had an investment project for construction and infrastructure business approved by a competent authority but was terminated and assigned to a new investor; (iii) investment projects on construction and business of industrial park infrastructure operating under ecological, supportive and intensive industrial park models; (iv) the investor commits to spend at least 30% of industrial land in the IPs for investment projects with high technology, supporting industry projects, innovation projects and priority projects. attracting investment.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is collecting comments from the people on this draft at the Ministry's web portal.

Author: Khanh Linh