Lam Dong gives priority for hi-tech agricultural projects

Lam Dong gives priority to attract investment in developing modern agriculture in combination with agricultural tourism.

The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has called for the investment in 53 different projects covering the agricultural sector, tourism, trade and services, industry and science and technology.

The Lam Dong People's Committee on December 26 held a seminar on trade, tourism and investment promotion into the province under the framework of the ongoing 7th Da Lat Flower Festival.

Nguyen Van Yen, Deputy Chairman of Lam Dong People's Committee said that tourism and agriculture are two areas that the province will focus on in the future to exploit its strength of modern agriculture combining with agricultural tourism, as well as focusing on building the Da Lat - Lam Dong agricultural product brand to promote in the country and export to the world.

Despite great potential, investment attraction to Lam Dong in recent years has not met expectations. The province currently has 103 foreign investment projects with a modest registered capital of US$528 million, plus 820 domestic investment projects with a total registered capital of VND115 trillion. Most of them are deployed by medium and small scale enterprises.

Enterprises have difficulty accessing land due to the limited land funds and high land transfer prices. Meanwhile, the legal system is still limited, causing difficulties in project implementation. The province has no international border, making it difficult to export local agricultural products.

The seminar discussed measures to solve difficulties for enterprises when investing in Lam Dong. Delegates suggested that attracting investment effectively; Lam Dong should strengthen the reform of administrative procedures to improve its competitiveness index.

In addition, the locality should promote its strengths in tourism, hi-tech agriculture, and biotechnology, while giving priority to investors with strong potential in technology, finance and management capacity. It should head towards the high-end markets and visitors who are able to pay large sums, along with limiting cheap travel and projects with backward technologies that cause environmental pollution.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Head of Vietnam Institute of Economics, proposed that Lam Dong should prioritise large enterprises instead of offering preferential policies for small and medium enterprises at the moment, due to the fact that leading businesses would entail small and medium enterprises.

In addition, the province needs to step up the attraction of high quality human resources, strengthen the linkage model of new-style cooperatives in the field of agriculture, and protect the ecological environment – the local issues that would determine the attractiveness for investors.

At the seminar, Lam Dong People's Committee called for investment in three national projects, including the project of restoring Da Lat-Thap Cham railways and upgrading Da Lat train stations for tourism; building Dau Giay-Lien Khuong expressway; and constructing Lam Dong high-tech agriculture zone. In addition, Lam Dong also called for investment in 50 provincial projects in various fields.

It also introduced and sought opportunities for cooperation in production, business operation and market expansion with relevant businesses on safe and high quality products, travel routes, tours as well as new travel products.

Investment projects in Lam Dong enjoy preferential policies on land water surface lease, corporate income tax, import and export tax, vocational training support, investment promotion, market development and brand promotion.