HCM City(VNA) – Export processing zones and industrial parks (IP) in Ho Chi MinhCity are on the process of transforming themselves towards green and ecologydirection to meet the changing demands of businesses.

A large wave ofthe movement to other localities is underway among businesses in HCM City,especially those in labour-intensive sectors with low technologies and highrisk of causing environmental pollution.

Nguyen Van Khanh, ViceChairman of the Shoes and Leather Association of Ho Chi Minh City (SLA), saidthat many businesses in the shoes and leather sector are moving to thecountryside of neighbouring localities such as Tra Vinh, An Giang and KienGiang. Firms staying at IPs are mainly foreign ones, he added.

The movement trend ofenterprises is prompting export processing zones and IPs to change themselves.

With the support ofthe United Nations Industrial Development Organisation(UNIDO), Hiep Phuoc IP has been applying the “industrial symbiosis” concept inits operations, turning waste released from businesses into input materials forothers.

Meanwhile, the number of labour-intensivebusinesses in Tan Thuan IP has decreased to 50% of total 240 firms it ishosting, which is continue to fall.

Currently, HCM City is building a projecton developing export processing zones and IPs in the 2025-2030 period with a visionto 2045, which underlined the need for a suitable roadmap to transform the exportprocessing zones and IPs following more effective models.

The city is also working on the mechanismand roadmap as well as a set of criteria for the transformation process oflocal export processing zones andIPs, which will be inform to businesses and investors soon.

Hua Quoc Hung, head of the HCM City ExportProcessing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), said that the HEPZA isseeking measures to encourage businesses that are using backward technologiesto upgrade their technologies or move out.

He revealed that in March, the authoritywill release an official information on the city’s policy for the zones.

Under the city’s planning, HCM City has 23 concentrated export processing zones and IPscovering nearly 6,000 hectares. So far, 19 have been built and 17 have been putinto operations with an occupation ratio of about 80%.

Local exportprocessing zones and IPs have attracted 1,665 projects with total capital of12.5 billion USD. Each year, business in export processing zones and IPs postedan export revenue of about 8 billion USD, accounting for about 21% of the city’stotal export turnover excluding crude oil./.