DEZA’s Chairman talks to Doosan Vina Times

DEZA's Chairman talks to Doosan Vina Times
16:20:25.0, 04-12-2010 

In early 2010, DEZA' Chairman Nguyen Xuan Thuy had a chance to talk to Doosan Vina Times, which is a publication of Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam Co., Ltd, about the progress and prospect of Dungquat Economic Zone and of Doosan Vina. We post the interview transcript as below for your reference. 

Question: As the chairman of Dungquat Economic Zone Authority (DEZA), can you please brief about the development progress and achievements of Dungquat Economic Zone in 2009? 

Answer: The global economic crisis is affecting the investment attraction and development progress of Dungquat Economic Zone to some extents. However, thanks to the precondition we created during the past 14 years of development, especially the operation of Dungquat Refinery, Doosan Vina and Dungquat Shipyard, Dungquat achieved a historical development breakthrough in 2009.
There are now 111 projects licensed with total registered capital of approximately US$ 7.7 billion, implemented capital was US$ 4.1 billion; another 28 projects capitalized at US$ 2.7 billion have been approved to be invested. In 2009, the value of industrial-trade-services output in Dungquat EZ area reached VND 6,500 billion (an increase by 250% compared to 2008); export value reached US$ 120 million (increase by 240%); budget revenue collection reached VND 2,800 billion (increase by 259%). The development of Dungquat EZ in the year contributed to the majority of the GDP growth rate of 21% of Quang Ngai, and helped this province gain high state revenue, from the past of a poor province. 

Question: What steps and actions Dungquat Economic Zone Authority (DEZA) are going to take to attract more investment and create a favorable business environment for the current and potential investors? 

Answer: The plan to transform Dungquat EZ into an industrialized city is under the consideration of the Polibureau and the Government. If this plan is approved and implemented, I think businesses in Dungquat would benefit from an improved administration mechanism in Dungquat which will be more centralized, coherent and in one-stop-shop manner.
Investment attraction, especially FDI from competent and professional investors, is always our first priority. In order to create a more business-friendly investment environment, we are focusing on the 4 tasks including (1) simplifying the investment procedures and finding the possible ways to provide land to projects quickly (2) upgrading and expanding the physical infrastructure to meet the requirements of large-scale projects, building up the social amenities to support the industrial development (3) coordinating the training programs to build a skilled labour forces in the locality (4) help forging harmonious relations between the enterprises and the local communities. 

Question: Doosan Vina Industry Complex was inaugurated and put into operation in May 2009. How do you think about the contribution of Doosan Vina to the economic development in Dungquat EZ? 

Answer: I still remember that the inaugural ceremony of Doosan Vina in May 2009 was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. This shows the Vietnam government's appreciation to your project. Doosan Vina has some unique qualities worth of high recognition, such as first-ever made-in-Vietnam heavy industrial products, your competency and professionalism, strong financial capability. In Dungquat, you are contributing to the state revenue, creating job opportunities for more than 1,000 local people. Most of all, Doosan Vina's presence here paves the way for Dungquat to attract more Korean projects, and informs to the international investment community that Dungquat can be a good destination for big FDI projects. 

Question: What are the opportunities and challenges for Dungquat EZ when the global economic crisis is going to ease? And how the business performance of Doosan Vina and other enterprises in Dungquat will be affected under such situation, in your opinion? 

The global economic recovery in 2010 would be the good news to all the parties, of course. Enterprises in Dungquat in general, Doosan Vina in particular will get more orders, markets will be expanded both internationally and domestically. Vietnam is projected to gain a growth rate of 6.5-7% in 2010 and Doosan Vina can gradually tap this market. Moreover, the economic recovery will help Dungquat attract more investment in the supporting industries and services. 

However, I think enterprises will face fiercer competition in the global stage since businesses elsewhere will benefit from the stimulus packages provided by their governments and all will apply new business strategies. That's why we all should try to keep moving forward to follow the global trend. Personally, I'm a little bit concerned about the possible rise in consumer price index (CPI) because this will create the pressure for businesses to change their remuneration policy. Possible rise in prices of raw materials, fuel, power could be a matter of concern also. 

I believe that Doosan Vina would take the advantage of the economic recovery to fully develop. Actually, you did quite a good job in 2009, despite the global downturn. Your production output of nearly US$ 43 million and export turnover of US$ 61 million in 2009 are positive figures. 

Question: One of our top priority of Doosan Vina is to train and improve the quality of our workforce. At this moment, Doosan Vina has 1,700 workers and staffs, 93% of them are local people. It's anticipated that our manpower by 2015 will be 3,000 people. What are the plans of DEZA to help arrange the labour resources for enterprises? 

Answer: Arranging the workforces for big enterprises is a major task in Dungquat's development agenda. Quang Ngai province considers this matter a driving element of development and we took this matter into consideration from the early establishment of Dungquat, therefore, we set up the Dungquat Vocational School (this school has been transferred to General Bureau of Vocational Training recently), and later the Dungquat High-tech Training Center to train skilled workers for the factories.
For the time being, we will continue and further expand this training program, and will call for businessmen's active participation in this work, in terms of training facilities, curriculum, workshops for practice … We will work as the active coordinator for the training-recruitment relations between enterprises and training institutions in Quang Ngai like Pham Van Dong University, Branch of HCMC Industrial University and others in Da Nang and Hue. We are going to launch some mobilization programs to call the Quang Ngai people working in the South to come back to their hometown to work and settle down here. However, as you may see, we only serve as the coordinator and facilitator for the macro issues, the majority of the work is up to the enterprises, since this is related so much to the human resources policies of their own.
We welcome all the ideas, proposals, suggestions, solutions from the enterprises regarding the labour forces issues; and we will organize action programs within our capability and power. 

Question: Besides the contribution to economic development, Doosan Vina has also organized some humanitarian activities to help the local community such as free health care program for the poor, donation to support the people suffered from storms and floods. How do you think about these activities? 

Answer: It's quite a nice gesture and a goodwill of Doosan Vina to do so. I'm happy to see all actions and the helping hands to build better, healthier local communities, especially for those who had to relocate to give land for industrial development. Your actions have set the trend of charity work throughout Dungquat.
Edited by TVdanh