Forceful reforms to attract investments

As Binh Duong has many advantages to attract FDI, the important thing now is how to prepare to take advantage of the opportunities from the investment wave. Of such preparation, the administrative reforms, the improvement of the investment and business environment are identified constantly by the province as an important stage.

Complete and connected transport infrastructure is one of Binh Duong's advantages in attracting investment

Barriers removed

One of the problems that many foreign investors have recently given feedbacks is the difficulty in extending work permits for foreigners. Recently, at a meeting and working with the delegation of the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce, Chen Shui Shih - President of the Taiwan Business Association in Binh Duong, wanted to faster complete the procedures for granting work permits to foreigners coming to Vietnam for work. Many investors also shared that, according to regulations, it only takes more than 10 days to apply for a permit for foreign workers, but in reality, it sometimes takes businesses up to 2 months to complete the procedure.

Talking to provincial leaders, Preben Enef – Deputy President and General Director of Lego Manufacturing (Vietnam) also informed about the progress of the group's construction project of a factory of more than USD 1 billion in VSIP III. He thanked the provincial authority for creating favorable conditions for the project implementation. The province has prepared the infrastructure, started to expand the road DT746B - the arterial road leading to VSIP III and connecting with other important traffic routes. In order for the group to put the plant into operation on schedule in June 2024, Preben Elnef wanted the province to quickly complete the procedures for land, connect to the 110kV power grid, deploy solar power, and make appraisal of technical design of fire prevention and fighting.

Pham Trong Nhan - Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, said Binh Duong is in the group of 22 provinces and cities with a high percentage of enterprises planning to expand production and business compared to the whole country. However, the drastic change in investment attraction orientation towards reducing the proportion of labor-intensive, resource-intensive, and environmental-polluting industries, prioritizing attracting new industries with high science and technology content and environmental friendliness has seemed to limit the plans to expand production and business of existing enterprises.

However, in 2022 and the first 2 months of 2023, the province still recorded many positive signs accumulated so far, Binh Duong is still ranked 2nd in the country after Ho Chi Minh city in FDI attraction with 4,092 projects of a total registered investment capital of more than USD 39.73 billion, accounting for 9% of the total foreign investment capital of the country. Prominently is the high-quality FDI inflows of the world's leading investors choosing Binh Duong as a base for production.

To improve competitiveness

Recognizing and appreciating all the recommendations from businesses and investors, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Vo Van Minh said that provincial leaders, departments and branches are particularly interested in and making efforts to speed up related procedures related to the Lego project. Binh Duong will actively coordinate to complete the procedures for land use rights in March 2023 for the group to implement the next steps of the project. At the same time, the province has proposed to the relevant ministries and branches to speed up the appraisal of fire prevention and fighting, and to connect the power grid so that Lego's project can be deployed smoothly.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee committed that within the authority of the province, Binh Duong would always accompany, listen to aspirations, and support investors to remove obstacles for effective investment and production activities. Besides the achieved results, still are many difficulties and inadequacies that require real companionship and efforts from both the authority and businesses.

The provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) report in recent years also shows that, although there are still many points to look back, the province's bright spot in recent years is still infrastructure. The index has been rated the best in the country for many years. Binh Duong continues to be one of the attractive investment destinations with many advantages and appropriate policies. However, according to provincial leaders, in order to actively welcome big investors, in the socio-economic development program in 2023, Binh Duong continues to reform administrative procedures by focusing on improving the investment environment, enhancing even stronger competitiveness, and at the same time creating the most favorable conditions for enterprises to feel secure in production and business operations.

Vo Van Minh affirmed that with the determination to build a serving government, taking businesses and people as the center, administrative reforms and improving the investment and business environment are always the province's top concern; thereon, helping businesses restore production, contributing more to the province's socio-economic development.

Reported by Ngoc Thanh – Translated by Vi Bao