by Vu Hoa

Japan's IHI Corporation (IHI) relocated and built a 14ha factory for IHI Infrastructure Asia Co Ltd (IIA) in Dinh Vu Industrial Zone in the northern Hai Phong port city.

This is the first factory owned by the group in Viet Nam. Oyama Atsuo, IIA's general director, talks about the reason for the relocation of the factory.

IIA's factory in Dinh Vu Industrial Zone (DVIZ) will become operational on March 10. Why did you choose to relocate your plant after eight years of operations in Viet Nam?

Oyama Atsuo, IIA's general director. — VNS Photo

We have a factory on the border of the northern Hai Duong Province and Hai Phong City. We produce our products in this factory at the moment. However, the products are very large in size. That's why I chose to relocate the factory to Hai Phong Port, to move from the inland to the coast. They will facilitate our transportation requirements and promote import-export activities.

I chose DVIZ also because of the tax incentives it offers. It is good for us. With its geographical advantage, IHI will be able to supply competitive products and respond to a rapid growth and demand for infrastructure development in Southeast Asia.

Our company, under IHI Corporation, exports several products all over the world, serving the construction work of plants, bridges, machines and equipment. IHI has two factories in South-East Asia, with one in Viet Nam and the other in Indonesia. We're producing our products in the two factories. We want to expand our exports, not only in Viet Nam but also in South-East Asia.

Viet Nam is a nice base for exporting our products across the world. Actually, we have exported our products to Turkey, Morocco, South America and Central America, besides China and Japan. We also got a new project in Nicaragua in Central America.

In term of tax incentives, we will get four years of corporate income-tax (CIT) exemption after starting operations in the new factory. It means there is no CIT till 2017. Then, CIT will be at 25 per cent for five years, following by six years of 50 per cent CIT, and the full tax amount after that. It is a very big incentive. This is very good for us.

Tell us about your group, especially about your operations in Viet Nam. What is your long-term vision in Viet Nam?

Our long-term target is to focus on infrastructure, not only in Viet Nam but overseas.

The factory will be completed in the first half of 2015, and will be able to produce machinery products such as construction machinery and concrete products. The IIA factory will play a significant role as the IHI group's production base in Southeast Asia.

IIA was established in December 2008 as IHI's overseas base for engineering, fabrication and construction of steel structures, especially bridges. IIA is manufacturing the Nhat Tan Bridge, one of the world's largest cable-stayed bridges, in Ha Noi.

We also target power plants. We export products for power plant construction to Africa, Morocco and Japan. We bagged a job in the large power plant in the central-southern Khanh Hoa Province.

In the future, I want that all engineering and construction works to be done by Vietnamese people.

We have given training on all techniques to local workers for six months before they started working in their plants in Viet Nam, including in assembly, painting and welding. I also invited professional people from Japan to give training to Vietnamese people in our factories for a year. Then they can get such products produced by Vietnamese workers because there are only three Japanese persons working in the factory.

What do you think about Hai Phong's investment environment?

A secure and safe environment should be very important for foreign investors. I and my staff brought our families to Viet Nam. It is safer to walk around here than in other countries. The food is very similar to Japanese food. Viet Nam and Japan have a good long-term relationship. In addition, the Vietnamese workers easily understand what I want and are very honest.

The tax incentives in the city are good for us. The municipal People's Committee, the department of planning and investment and the Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA) have also helped us in setting up our business in the city. Of course, there were some small problems. But they can be seen all over the world.

We received our first investment licence on December 31, 2008. It was not difficult to get the certificate because the city wanted to invite more foreign investors. Then HEZA helped us to get a certificate in DVIZ.

The industrial zone is well-managed and controlled by a reliable Belgium-invested professional company. One we set schedule and specifications in the contract, DVIZ keeps its promise. We easily moved there for our factory's construction. It has a fully established power system, drainage and industrial water supply. — VNS