In addition to favorable policies on inviting incentives for investors, Binh Phuoc has been making concerted efforts to improve the investment environment and increase its Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) to welcome new waves of domestic and international investments.
Advantages
Located in the transition zone between the Highlands and the Southeastern part of Vietnam, Binh Phuoc has several strategic corridors like National Road 13 and the Trans-Asian Railway line (from Ho Chi Minh City through Loc Ninh of Binh Phuoc to Vientiane (Laos), Trans-Vietnam Road 14 (Ho Chi Minh Road planned to be built soon) and Interprovincial Road 741 connecting Trans-Vietnam Road 14 to Dong Xoai City in Binh Duong Province, joining Interprovincial Road 747B and coming to its end at the Trans-Asia Highway.
The road network makes it convenient for domestic and international transport. Binh Phuoc has an over 260km border, one international border gate and two national border gates, which are the Southeastern part's important doors to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and the Highlands.
Binh Phuoc's area of natural land is 6,857.3 km2, with 22,5% of the area used for growing long-term industrial trees like cashew, rubber and pepper plants whose products are intended for the processing of agricultural and forestry products and food for export. Binh Phuoc has 13 Prime Minister-approved industrial parks occupying 4,686ha, and its International Border Gate Economic Zone of Hoa Lu covers an area of 28,364ha, most of which is clean land, suitable for industrial development. Its infrastructure network and industrial complexes are getting better every day, paving the way for significant international investments.
Encouraging achievements
In 2020, Binh Phuoc has achieved the economic growth rate of 7.51% (the plan was 8%), in the top five of the country. It has been able to reach or even surpass 21 out of 24 of its socio-economic goals. The province has been able to attract 36 international projects with a total investment of USD 432 mn (108% of the plan for the year), 120 domestic investment projects with a total capital of VND 12,000 bn (120% of the plan for the year) and 1,230 enterprises and 24 cooperatives have been established, raising a total capital of VND 24,915 bn from the society (making up about 36.6% GRDP).
Notably, Binh Phuoc has several modern facilities such as Phuoc Long Town's New Urban Area, the province's 600-bed General Hospital and the Dormitory of the Political Training School, which together give the province a brilliant look. Binh Phuoc has attracted three private public partnership (PPP) projects, investment projects that use land with a total capital of VND 2,859 bn (which is 60% of the total investment capital in 2020), and the disbursement rate has been 95.37% of the year's plan, which means it has made good use of the national budget.
Another remarkable aspect is that its International Border Gate Economic Zone of Hoa Lu has attracted 83 investors whose projects cover a total area of 1,719 ha, and 38 of which have come into operation. The total export turnover at the Border Gate over the past 11 months was USD 48.15 mn, an 60.2% year-on-year increase; and the total import turnover reached USD 147.58 mn, increasing by 1,368.42% over the same period of last year. It made a contribution of VND 556.58 bn to the province's budget, rising by 2,117%, helping to maintain the province's revenue growth rate.
Raising PCI
In 2020, Binh Phuoc has selected contractors online for 100% of the contract packages, making it come second in the nation's online contractor selection rate, with 648/690 contract packages selected, which is 94% of the plan, worth a total VND 4,438/5,130 bn, which is 86.5% of the plan. As a result, the time necessary for procedures completion was reduced by 50% of the required period, with 99% of the procedures completed, reaching the 4th public service level. Documents received and completed online reached 72% (increasing by 42% over the year 2019).
Binh Phuoc completed a software program for reporting socio-economic situation and updating the figures in the Intelligent Operation Center (IOC), considered to be the huge data storage space that helps monitor and control socio-economic issues. The province has also been connected to the Government-controlled information center, speeding up the process of digitalization of public services to better meet the needs of the people and businesses.
Binh Phuoc Economic Zone Authority said that the biggest hindrance now is land clearance due to complex procedures and a lack of cooperation from the people. The three "gigantic" projects in the industrial parks (IPs) namely Ledana IP (425ha), Hoa Lu IP (404ha) and Vcom IP (300ha) are still being hampered by the process of land clearance and environmental impact assessment. Additionally, the procedures for project shifting are still lengthy; and domestic investment management activities still confront lots of hardships, making it difficult for the management of companies in the economic zones and causing many other projects to be delayed.
Mr. Vo Sa, Director of Binh Phuoc's Department of Planning and Investment, said that the province is applying information technology in administrative management and reforms and planning and investment management. The provincial department has submitted proposals to the provincial People's Committee, stating that the department will make appropriate plans, collaborate with the relevant agencies to organize conferences to analyze the 2019 PCI and suggest measures to raise the province's PCI in 2020 to welcome the coming waves of domestic and international investments as well as approve the application of PCI for the 2020-2025 period.
