Firms home in for moving solution

In light of Dong Nai People’s Committee plan to turn Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Zone (IZ) into a residential, trading and recreational complex, many businesses face to be removed to another location.
The removal upsets scores of IZ businesses, particularly that recently built new production facilities.
For instance, Bien Hoa Chemical Company has placed three factories at Bien Hoa 1 IZ, one of which just moved to the IZ from Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh district.
“Once removed, we would need to build new factories from scratch and it would eat up huge money. Besides, businesses face losing customers and these disadvantages were yet to be mentioned in the removal support plan,” said the company representative.
Meanwhile, the greatest concern to labour intensive firms in the IZ is labour retention, particularly skilled workers. Removal of equipment and machinery also causes costs.
A Bien Hoa Sugar Joint Stock Company representative claimed the proposed support package of at most VND500 million ($24,000) for each firm was far from enough.
Similarly, Pascimex’s general director Nguyen Thi Mai assumed the management authorities only worked on general policy support measures, while businesses’ bigger problems such as how the companies would perform after removal or they would face losing labourers were not properly addressed.
At a meeting of Bien Hoa 1 IZ Removal Steering Committee in late May 2011, Dong Nai People’s Committee’s deputy chairman Dinh Quoc Thai asked Bien Hoa Industrial Zone Development Corporation to consolidate the overall plan and scrutinise support measures towards businesses and soon submit it to the provincial management for approval.
Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Zone was built in 1963 on a scale of 335 hectares. The IZ area was leased out with over 100 investment projects.
Bien Hoa Industrial Zone Development Corporation was trusted by the provincial authorities to preside over the plan to turn Bien Hoa 1 IZ into a modern residential, trading and recreational complex.
Under the plan, the current IZ businesses will be removed to Giang Dien IZ in the province’s Trang Bom district. They will be financed VND3.7 trillion ($180 million) to partly cover removal, land lease and infrastructure usage fees out the overall plan total financial package of around VND17 trillion ($821 million).