Long An striving to improve further

Provincial leaders and the business community are moving in the same direction to offer effective decisions

Long An is currently the leading investment destination in the Mekong Delta region. It ranks ninth out of 63 cities and provinces in the country in terms of attracting foreign direct investment. The province is a magnet for foreign investors not only because of its close proximity to Ho Chi Minh City, but also its effective investment attraction policies.

Over the past years, Long An has actively implemented synchronous solutions to improve the local investment climate. The province has also made significant investment in completing the transport infrastructure, creating an industrial land fund, as well as implementing strong and breakthrough decisions in administrative reform.

What is more, the province has mobilised all of its resources to invest in technical infrastructure, especially the transport system to propel the key economic regions in the locality. With its synchronous development, the province has created all favourable conditions to attract investment in industrial development, making industry a spearhead sector for local socioeconomic development.

Provincial Road No.830 stretching from Duc Hoa to Tan Tap connects key industrial zones (IZs) with Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road. Other key projects include the National Highway No.50 connecting with Long An Port and Tan An City Ring Road with a bridge crossing over the Vam Co Tay River, as well as a transport infrastructure axis connecting with Ho Chi Minh City.

By 2025, Long An will continue its efforts to build a synchronous transport infrastructure system for industrial and urban development in key economic regions. The province will invest in eight major traffic works with the total estimated investment of $522 million. The province also gives priority to three key projects: the completion of Tan An City Ring Road, Provincial Road No.830E from expressway intersection to Provincial Road No.830, and Provincial Road No.827E from Ho Chi Minh City to the Vam Co Dong River.

In addition, Long An also earmarks clear land fund for developing IZs and clusters. Thus, investors can quickly scale up their investment in the locality. The province has abundant industrial land with 62 industrial clusters covering a total area of more than 3,100 hectares. The prime minister also approved to add 35 IZs covering nearly 12,000ha in Long An to the planning on the development of IZs in Vietnam over the last five years.

Among them, there are 16 IZs that have been put into operation with an area of nearly 3,800ha. Around 2,391ha of industrial land has been leased out with an occupancy rate of 89.5 per cent. Meanwhile, four IZs are building technical infrastructure which is eligible to host tenants. Meanwhile, three IZs are accelerating technical infrastructure development to welcome tenants in 2021.

Long An province is determined to provide a safe investment space for interested developers. Photos: Thanh Binh

Favourable investment climate

Long An’s leaders pay attention to taking care of investors. The local authorities at all levels have been enthusiastic about welcoming them, sharing policies, and supporting field trips to potential destinations. At the same time, the provincial authorities often hold dialogues with investors to listen to their concerns and address any problems.

Nguyen Van Duoc, Secretary of Long An Party Committee, reaffirmed the spirit at a seminar on orientation for developing a high-tech economic zone in April with the participation of the South Korean Embassy, the Korean Trade Counselor in Vietnam, and South Korean businesses. “Please feel safe to invest in Long An. If anything is within our scope, we will help you to the best of our ability. If you encounter any problems beyond our ability to solve, we will go with you to help you solve them,” Duoc said.

Every year, Long An People’s Committee issues documents directing departments and districts to implement tasks and solutions to improve the provincial competitiveness index (PCI). In particular, the committee assigns specific tasks to each department, sector, and district with a focus on improving the PCI scores. The efforts aim to create a level-playing field for enterprises of all economic sectors to invest and do business. In particular, the province continues to push forward its administrative procedure reform with the one-stop shop mechanism for businesses and investors.

Long An has long been listed among the top localities in the PCI rankings. For four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020, the province maintained its ranking in either the “good” or “very good” group.

Active improvements

Last year, Long An had seven indexes of components that increased. Among them, time requirements for bureaucratic procedures had the highest score, up 1.32 points and followed by fair competition up 1.17 points. However, three sub-indexes that fell: transparency and access to information, business support services, and legal institutions.

At the end of June, Nguyen Van Ut, Chairman of Long An People’s Committee, signed a plan to improve its PCI ranking in 2021. Under this plan, the province will actively improve 10 PCI component indexes, maintain its PCI ranking position in the group of “very good”, and strive to increase the index score from 74 to 75 points.

To achieve the above goal, Long An People’s Committee has set out the key tasks for departments, branches, agencies, districts, towns, and cities. Some of the tasks include organising regular dialogues with businesses to address their challenges, making improvements in the PCI rankings, adopting technology in administrative procedures, and accelerating administrative reforms as well as creating a favourable investment climate.

Long An continues to accompany the business community with any problems arising in a timely and effective manner. The province is committed to supporting the business community to overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic in particular, to maintain investment and production activities.

Chairman Ut highlighted the importance of the tasks to improve its PCI rankings in 2021. The province aims to create a fair and transparent investment environment for local and foreign investors to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Hopefully, businesses will continue to improve their corporate governance, brand awareness, and social responsibility activities in the locality, Chairman Ut said, thereby making a significant contribution to Long An’s socioeconomic development in the coming time.