The State is encouraging institutional and individual investors to establish new ecological industrial zones (IZ) or develop existing IZs into ecological zones.
Primary infrastructure developers and secondary investors in ecological IZs will be able to enjoy investment incentives and receive support from appropriate agencies in administrative procedures, technical consultancy, investment promotion and information access. This is a part of a draft decree on IZ, EPZ and EZ management submitted by MPI to the government. The document shows that ecological IZ development will be encouraged in the time to come. According to MPI, the ecological IZ model, developed strongly in the US, Canada, Denmark, Japan and South Korea, has brought large social, economic and environmental benefits. In 2005-2014 period, South Korea shifted 51 IZs into ecological IZs, which brought economic benefit worth $1.3 billion. In Vietnam, the ecological IZ model has been applied on a trial basis in Ninh Binh, Da Nang and Can Tho, showing clear benefits in energy consumption and environmental protection. The State is encouraging institutional and individual investors to establish new ecological industrial zones (IZ) or develop existing IZs into ecological zones. Vietnam now has 321 IZs and EPZs covering a total area of 90,000 hectares, which have attracted 6,600 foreign invested and 6,200 domestic projects with total registered capital of $105 billion and VND693 trillion. However, the development of so many IZs has caused big challenges to the environment. A survey found that 16 percent of operational IZs still don’t have waste water treatment plants. Some years ago, after analyzing 20 surface water samples on the Hau River’s sections close to the Tra Noc 1 and Tra Noc 2 IZs in Can Tho City, scientists came to a conclusion that they all “had problems.” In the draft decree, ecological IZs are understood as ones that have at least 40 percent of enterprises using new management methods, applying clean technologies to reduce emissions and waste, and reusing waste. The draft decree also stipulates that in ecological IZs, the greenery and shared transport systems and infrastructure systems must account for at least 30 percent of the IZs’ total area. Prior to that, an international workshop on ecological IZ was held in Quang Nam, in which Tran Duy Dong from the EZ Management Department said MPI was determined to deploy the ecological IZ development plan. MPI is now joining forces with UNIDO to implement a project on ecological IZ development funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The project has total non-refundable capital of $4.55 million which aims to enhance the transfer of applications and popularize technologies for cleaner production, energy savings, and natural resource and chemical management in IZs. Heinz Leuenberger, chief technical advisor of the project, said this is a great opportunity for Vietnam to learn experiences from other countries to develop ecological IZs in Vietnam.
