In May 2006, the Prime Minister released the decision on establishing the Nghi Son EZ located in the south of Thanh Hoa province and north of Nghe An province in the central region, which covers an area of 18,611 ha. The EZ, a general EZ with the focus on heavy industries (petrochemical, high-grade steel industry, construction materials, thermopower, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding) is expected to become the impetus to help develop the central region’s economy.
Nghi Son will become the centre of seaport services, freight and forwarding, and also a centre for sea tourism and high-grade entertainment services.
What are the advantages of Nghi Son EZ compared to other EZs in the country?
Nghi Son has a good inter-provincial road transport system, a railway station, a road linking Nghi Son port with Highway 1A, the deep water port with the Ho Chi Minh Road.
The biggest advantage of Nghi Son is the big seaport system, as big as a border gate, favourable for carrying goods. Wharfs No 1 and 2 now can receive ships of up to 10-30,000 DWT with the handling capacity of 1.5-2.5mil tonnes a year. From now to 2010, there will be one to three more wharfs capable of receiving ships of 50,000 DWT, and we will raise the handling capacity to 7-10mil tonnes a year.
Nghi Son EZ is now using electricity from the national 500KV north-south grid, the 220 KV and 110 KV Thanh Hoa-Nghe An grid. In the future, Nghi Son will be the biggest thermopower centre of the country with the total capacity of 3,000 MW.
Could you please tell us about the big projects in Nghi Son?
20% of the Nghi Son EZ’s land fund has been allocated for projects on 1. shipbuilding (building ships of more than 50,000 tonnes), 2. Nghi Son cement factory (4.3mil tonnes/year) 3. Cong Thanh cement factory (750,000 clinker/year).
We also have a project on a 600 MW thermopower plant, Vinaxuki automobile assembling, petrol and oil general depot, and a paper material production plant by Inovgreen, and a glass fibre tube factory.
What will the investment policies of Nghi Son EZ be in order to fill in the other 80% of land?
I can say that besides the running projects, other hundreds investors are looking to make investment there.
We will open two vocational colleges to provide labourers for projects in the EZ, which will help investors save time in training labourers. In terms of administrative procedures, we commit to creating the most favourable conditions for investors under the one-door policy. Investors will be able to lease land for 70 years and get extensions. They will be exempted from land leasing fee and water surface leasing in some cases. Besides, they will also enjoy investment incentives.
I want to emphasise that the site clearance, the biggest problem investors in other localities have to face, will not be a problem for them in Nghi Son. We will do that ourselves to lay out a red carpet for investors. We plan to evacuate more than 3,000 households in the time to come, which will cost VND 2tril.
In July, we will submit to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Prime Minister the master plan on the Nghi Son EZ development, and we hope to welcome more investors, especially foreign investors. (VNECONOMY)