Export processing zones and industrial parks (IP) in Ho Chi Minh City are on the process of transforming themselves towards green and ecology direction to meet the changing demands of businesses.

A large wave of the movement to other localities is underway among businesses in HCM City, especially those in labour-intensive sectors with low technologies and high risk of causing environmental pollution.

Nguyen Van Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Shoes and Leather Association of Ho Chi Minh City (SLA), said that many businesses in the shoes and leather sector are moving to the countryside of neighbouring localities such as Tra Vinh, An Giang and Kien Giang. Firms staying at IPs are mainly foreign ones, he added.

The movement trend of enterprises is prompting export processing zones and IPs to change themselves.

With the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Hiep Phuoc IP has been applying the “industrial symbiosis” concept in its operations, turning waste released from businesses into input materials for others.

Meanwhile, the number of labour-intensive businesses in Tan Thuan IP has decreased to 50% of total 240 firms it is hosting, which is continue to fall.

Currently, HCM City is building a project on developing export processing zones and IPs in the 2025-2030 period with a vision to 2045, which underlined the need for a suitable roadmap to transform the export processing zones and IPs following more effective models.

The city is also working on the mechanism and roadmap as well as a set of criteria for the transformation process of local export processing zones and IPs, which will be inform to businesses and investors soon.

Hua Quoc Hung, head of the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), said that the HEPZA is seeking measures to encourage businesses that are using backward technologies to upgrade their technologies or move out.

He revealed that in March, the authority will release an official information on the city’s policy for the zones.

Under the city’s planning, HCM City has 23 concentrated export processing zones and IPs covering nearly 6,000 hectares. So far, 19 have been built and 17 have been put into operations with an occupation ratio of about 80%.

Local export processing zones and IPs have attracted 1,665 projects with total capital of 12.5 billion USD. Each year, business in export processing zones and IPs posted an export revenue of about 8 billion USD, accounting for about 21% of the city’s total export turnover excluding crude oil.

VNA