Agri-tech zone plants seeds of investment

Agri-tech has been a long-term development target of the central province of Phu Yen. Since a high-tech agricultural zone was proposed for the province in 2013, Phu Yen has focused mainly on developing infrastructure for investment projects in the field.

The management board of Phu Yen HTAAZ signs agreements with Lam Dong province

Over the past few years, local authorities have thoroughly studied and developed the proposal to establish the Phu Yen High-Tech Application Agricultural Zone (HTAAZ). In this work they have given special attention to boosting socio-economic growth and agricultural restructuring towards the enhancement of sustainability and value-added production.

Accordingly, basic requirements for proposals have been produced to develop a chain of agricultural production with high-tech applications, enhancing the competitiveness of the sector as it becomes increasingly integrated with the world.

When investing in HTAAZ, both local and foreign investors will enjoy many preferential policies and a good deal of investment support, such as free land use. They will also benefit from preferential corporate income tax and import and export duties.

According to Ngo Dinh Thien, deputy director of the Management Board of HTAAZ, the zone is for studying and applying new technologies into agricultural production. The zone will be developed with support and investment from science and technology organisations and other enterprises in order to produce high value-added agricultural products with high quality and yield.

Recently, to give HTAAZ a lift in realising its mission, Phu Yen issued a resolution to mobilise more resources for infrastructure development and investment attraction, with a vision to 2020. The resolution specifically aims to build a more synchronous technology system and attract more national and international funds, human resources, and high technologies to be used in local agricultural development.

Though ground on the zone was only broken in late 2016, some of its basic infrastructure has already been completed. To date, the zone has attracted seven investment projects. Of these, four projects are in operation - the Taiwanese firm Kuan-Lien Agricultural Development Co., Ltd’s high-tech agricultural zone, Dong Loi Clean Chicken Raising Co., Ltd’s industrial chicken farm, an experimental biology laboratory of the Technology Application and Transfer Center under the Phu Yen Department of Science and Technology, and Son Ngoc Co-operative Group’s fruit farm. The remaining projects are completing investment procedures.

Owing to the consistent promotion and careful preparation of HTAAZ, Phu Yen is expected to receive a great number of investors working in the production and processing of agricultural products in the near future.

According to the Phu Yen People’s Committee, between now and 2020, HTAAZ is expected to attract the total investment capital of more than VND520 billion ($22.6 million) to build a 12 kilometre-long irrigation system called Lo Chai 1. A 4-km main road, lighting system, waste treatment system, office building, and other supplementary infrastructure units will soon be constructed in the zone.

Deputy Chairman of the Phu Yen People’s Committee Tran Huu The said that the committee has announced its master plan for HTAAZ. Accordingly, investors will be fully informed, enhancing investment attraction and boosting high-tech applications into local agricultural production.

The has also asked the Management Board of HTAAZ to closely co-operate with relevant agencies to announce the master plan of the zone in a matter of time, as well as produce a detailed plan of the zone to effectively call for investment.