HCM City (VNA) - The newly established five modal(rail/road/air/river/sea) infrastructure network has brought a great deal ofinvestment to the Red River Delta, especially Hai Phong, delegates told a recent seminar held in HCM City.

Hans Kerstens, international business development manager at Deep C IndustrialZones, said in the last five years, the north has become the most popularinvestment destination for foreign companies.
Almost 60 billion USD has been invested there since 2011, outperforming thesouth by nearly 9 billion USD, he said.

Availability of prime industrial land adjacent to the new infrastructuredevelopments in combination with reliable power, water, wastewater treatmentand, unconditionally, the best tax package available in Vietnam are some of thereasons why many more investors have decided to come here, he said.

Vu Duy Mat, Deputy Director of the Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong,said the airport, upgraded last year, has been a success story in terms of bothpassengers and cargo.

In the first quarter of this year passengers and cargo throughput increased by47 percent and 48 percent year-on-year.

The presence of a second airport (besides Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi) capable ofhandling cargo via international routes is an imperative to comfort investorsin the mobile phone and electronics business, he said.

Pham Hai Manh of the Ministry of Transport’s Maritime Project Management Unitsaid a major game changer in the north has been the construction of the new HaiPhong International Gateway Port (also known as Lach Huyen Port).

Until recently, Hai Phong only had a port with a limited draft of seven metres.The new Lach Huyen Port, which will become operational next year, will allowvessels with a draft of 14 metres or 100,000DWT to berth in Hai Phong,eliminating the need to tranship from places like Singapore or Hong Kong andreducing the time to markets.

Hai Phong in particular has received a lot of interest among foreign investors,Do Trung Thoai, Chairman of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority, said.

It is home to 490 FDI projects worth almost 14 billion USD by some majorplayers like LG, Bridgestone, Knauf, Regina Miracle, Nipro Pharma, and FlatGlass.

The integrated infrastructure, especially the transport system, has been one ofthe biggest factors in this.

Its investment environment too has greatly improved, especially in terms ofadministrative procedures, enabling businesses to get licences and customs andtax declarations faster, he said.

He expected the investment wave in the city to strengthen further when largenational transport infrastructure works are completed soon.

He hailed the active support offered by local authorities to investors. 

The province has approved a list of projects requiring FDI investment in2016-20, with a focus on environment-friendly ones, he said.

Kerstens said investors in the Deep C Industrial Zones can enjoy theconvenience of transportation by sea, road, rail, and air.

They have so far attracted over 3 billion USD worth of investments from variouscountries in 70-odd projects.

The zones support customers by providing an integrated support package in anunconditional and transparent way to allow them to do business hassle-free,Kerstens said.

Nearly 100 business people attended the seminar on “Mega Infrastructures MakeDifference in the North” organised by Beluxcham together with various IPauthorities, Deep C Industrial Zones, and KPMG.-VNA