CAN THO — Investors in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces should foster closer ties with local authorities to benefit fully from their support, said business representatives at a conference on Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Investment and Development in Can Tho City last week.
"Investors should place their trust in the local authorities," said Nguyen Thien Bao, general director of PetroVietnam Finance Corporation (PVFC). "They can solve the thorniest difficulties for them."
He cited the example of the Chevron gas pipeline that had to pass through six provinces. He said local authorities worked together to clear a huge tract of land for the project.
"They have both the power and the necessary means to achieve a company's goals," he said.
Meanwhile, Hank Tomlinson, chairman of Chevron Viet Nam, which runs the Lot B gas supply off southernmost Ca Mau Province and the gas pipeline, said: "It's a win-win relationship. It's very important to understand who your partners are and whether you work with central or provincial governments."
Vo Quoc Thang, chairman of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs, said businesses and local authorities should think of themselves as friends.
"They [local authorities] are more open-minded and more flexible than previously," he said.
Huynh Ngoc Quy, deputy director of Phu Quoc Island-based La Veranda Resort, said the local government had insured that investment in the area had gone smoothly. However, he said poor infrastructure on the island was still a problem.
Chairman of US-based Caterpillar Asia Kevin Thieneman said the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta must reduce material and logistical costs.
Thieneman said he was "pleased to see a continued focus on construction of national highways and expansion of existing roads," adding that he was excited by the prospect of a pan-Asian rail link.
Master plan
The master plan for infrastructure development in the region presented by Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc includes a comprehensive national network of roads, railways and waterways, backed by a series of river and sea ports and international airports.
Vo Quoc Thang, who is also chairman of Dong Tam Brick Company, said it took just two and a half hours to travel from HCM City to Can Tho, a 200-km journey, made possible in such a short period of time because of the Sai Gon-Trung Luong Expressway and the Can Tho Bridge over the Mekong River.
"When the remaining section of the expressway from HCM City to Can Tho is completed, we will travel between the two cities in just one and a half hour," he said.
However, Duc complained that investors were not interested in infrastructure projects because it brought smaller returns than other forms of investment.
"The Government will mobilise all available resources and create favourable conditions to attract investment in infrastructure," he said.
Meanwhile, Dang Huy Dong, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's deputy minister, said a number of projects would soon be put out to tender under the Government's Public-Private Partnership model.
"The master plan is ideal, but we should accelerate its implementation," said Nguyen Xuan Thang, vice chairman of the Institute of Social Sciences.
He also stresses the need for policy integration and co-ordination.
"Inter-regional integration is a very serious and difficult problem in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta," he said.
"Provincial governments think in terms of local needs not regional development," he said.
"Leaders in the Mekong provinces should develop a common consensus and put regional benefits ahead of local benefits," he said.
"The enterprise network is disconnected and lacks co-ordination," he said. "Most enterprises are small – and medium-sized and not financially and technologically connected.
"We don't have supporting industries, and it is a fatal drawback."
Doan Duy Khuong, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said industrial integration was a prerequisite to improving a country's productivity. He said agricultural and aquacultural sectors needed to better integrate in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta. — VNS
