National Focus

New draft law on SEZs sets forth incentives deemed better than China, South Korea and Singapore

By Hieu Dan October 24, 2017 | 06:44 AM GMT+7

Based on the nine criteria categories set forth in the draft law on special administrative-economic zones (SEZs), the incentives offered to Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc are deemed to be better than those in China, South Korea and Singapore.

The planning of Van Don special administrative-economic zone in Quang Ninh province (Photo: Quang Ninh portal)

The draft law on special administrative-economic zones has been submitted to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for review before it reaches a vote in the Assembly in this October.

Attractive mechanisms and policies

Based on the nine criteria categories set forth in the draft law on special administrative-economic zones (SEZs), the incentives offered to Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc are deemed to be better than those in China, South Korea, and Singapore. According to the draft law, conditional businesses lines will be minimized, and the investment registering procedures for enterprises will be simplified.

For that reason, the government is optimistic that these three SEZs will develop strongly in the next few years.

Also, the use term of land for production and business purpose in special administrative-economic zones would be 99 years. Foreign individuals and organizations are allowed to mortgage their land-attached assets at foreign credit institutions or directly receive land use rights transferred from organizations or individuals that have land use rights for the performance of investment projects.

Income per capita to reach US$5,000 in 2020

The organizing model is relatively decentralized. The special administrative-economic zones belong to provinces but they only have administrative committee without a people’s committee.

The chairman of the administrative committee will be appointed by the Prime Minister, and he or she will assume some functions previously performed by the PM and others that are similar to a chairman of a provincial people’s committee.

The chairman can make the investment decision even for A-class projects, except for important national projects and also issue legal documents regulating the administrative procedures within the scope of competence.

Within next three years, the three special administrative-economic zones are expected to attract billions of US dollars in investment, helping the State to collect dozens of billion US dollars from taxes and fees.

By 2020, the draft law indicates per capita income in Phu Quoc SEZ US$5,000, around double the national average.

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