Stainless steel manufacturing workshop of AVSS Co. Photo by N.T

* Green IZ

This is the very first time Binh Dinh Province has applied such model of investment. The PBC Co. is actually a joint-venture of PISICO, Kim Cuc Trade-Transportation-Construction private Co. and Construction and Assembly Material Co. (Ministry of Commerce).

The construction and planning of Nhon Binh IZ is better than other IZs in Binh Dinh Province. All works of a typical green IZ are available in Nhon Binh IZ. Its infrastructure  (road network, electricity supply system, waste water treatment stations, drainage system, fire-hydrant system, tree plantation,etc.) is now ready for operation as planning. PBC Co. prioritizes investment of green-industry enterprises to the IZ with thorough consideration. Those employing hydrolysis of nitrogenous fertilizer, fermentation, usuage of chemical additive and metals, etc. are not allowed to operate their  manufacturing in the IZ.

The enterprises in Nhon Binh IZ are offered special favours besides general policies of preferential investment and production promotion like other IZs of Binh Dinh Province. Land rent is the lowest in current available land tariff of the province. The enterprises can rent land in 45 years and be exempt from land tax for 16 years. Price of infrastructure rental and maintenance is not higher than 0.7 USD/m²/year.

* Initial achievements

In spite of its young age (nearly at 3) and newly-built infrastructure, the IZ attracts 28 enterprises to rent all of its land. Half of them are under operation while the rest are building workshops. All of the enterprises in Nhon Binh IZ are manufacturers of nearly-unpollutted industries such as high-quality plastic, stainless steel, seafood and agricultural product processing, etc. Tan Viet manufacturing and import-export joint-stock Co. (TAVIMEX) is the very first enterprise operating in Nhon Binh IZ. “TAVIMEX prefers to built its workshops here because of the IZ’s available cleared land and favourable infrastructure. We produce cashew-nuts for export. Our foreign customers are very strict, particularly in term of food safety standard. After paying field tours around our workshops and the IZ, most of them feel contented. We have won many export contracts with British, USA, Australian customers and reached USD 1 million worth of export turnover although we started our production here more than a year ago. At present, our confirmed orders can ensure regular employment for 300 workers until the end of 2007” said Mr. Phan Hau, Director of TAVIMEX.

The IZ attracts not only local enterprises but also 2 foreign-invested companies. The first is GREEN FEED Co., Ltd. who invests VND 11 billion to set up a 72,000-ton-yearly-capacity factory of cattle-feed processing. The factory will expectedly run by Vietnamese Traditional Tet Festival in this Year of Pig. The second is AVSS Co., Ltd. who invests VND 15 billion (USD 937,500) to a factory of stainless steel manafacturing. The factory has been under operation during 1 year, creating employment for 50 workers. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Dien, CEO of AVSS, said: “After doing many researches and surveys about investment environment in Binh Dinh Province, we find that it is very logical to build a stainless steel manufacturing factory in Nhon Binh IZ. The IZ is near to Quy Nhon downtown, near to harbour. These are favourable conditions for goods export and recruitment of skilled labours. Products of AVSS such as fishing poles, moon-shaped chairs and other furniture items are highly praised by foreign customers. We sign many big export contracts and are expanding our workshop twice times”.

Establishment and development of Nhon Binh IZ actively contributes to development of industry and small scale industry of Quy Nhon City in particular and of Binh Dinh Province in general. Although half of the enterprises in Nhon Binh IZ has not operated yet, the IZ creates VND 50 billion (USD 3,125,000) worth of industrial manufacturing value and over USD 2 million worth of export turnover. 1,600 workers have been employed with avarage monthly salary at VND 1 million (about USD 62)  per capita.

• Reported by Ngoc Thai
• Translated by To Uyen