The Ministry of Planning and Investment is developing a decree aimed at boosting the development of industrial zones (IZs) and economic zones (EZs).

The ministry on its website said the issuance of the new decree was pressing as new models of IZs were already making an appearance, such as industrial-urban-service zones, and for the support of IZs and eco-industrial zones.

These new models of IZs would help enhance the competitiveness of IZs through diversifying investments, reducing production costs and promoting efficient use of resources but they needed mechanism for development.

The new decree was expected to wipe out inconsistencies in recently-issued legal documents, such as the Law on Investment and Decree 118/2015/ND-CP, which changed the procedure of investing in industrial and economic zones, and to improve competitiveness in attracting investment.

According to Tran Duy Dong, director of the ministry’s Economic Zone Management Department, the decree would introduce more attractive incentives to draw investment and simplify procedures.

Dong said the duration for the incentive of 10 per cent corporate tax rate on projects in EZs was proposed to increase from the current 15 years to 30 years.

The incentive would be provided to projects of a large scale, investing in technical infrastructure or using high technology, Dong said.

The department’s statistics showed that as of the end of November, there were 324 IZs and 16 EZs nationwide, with areas of 91,800ha and 815,000ha, respectively.

The figures excluded two EZs -- Thai Binh EZ in northern Thai Binh Province and Ninh Co EZ in northern Nam Dinh Province -- which were still in the planning stage.

Of them, 220 IZs were operational, with occupancy rate of 73 per cent.

Regarding investment attraction, IZs attracted more than 730 foreign-invested projects this year, with total registered capital of $11.2 billion. So far, IZs nationwide attracted nearly 7,000 foreign-invested projects, worth $110.2 billion, more than 60 per cent of which was disbursed.

Domestic investments in IZs totalled VND705.6 trillion in nearly 6,500 projects, so far.

The department said there were 36 IZs and non-tariff areas founded in 16 EZs.

As of November, EZs attracted VND155 trillion (US$6.9 billion) worth of investments in developing the technical infrastructure system, of which foreign investments accounted for some 16 per cent.

EZs have attracted 354 foreign-invested projects up till November, with total registered capital of $42 billion, plus more than 1,070 domestic projects worth VND347.9 trillion. - VNS