Provincial Competitiveness Index is also a warning sign

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At the conference, delegates expressed their concern about the result of a 2013 survey conducted by VCCI in Dong Nai with the participation of only 225 private enterprises and 192 foreign-direct-invested (FDI) enterprises. Therefore, the representative level of these private businesses is relatively low compare to total number of 13,000 companies. President of the Dong Nai Young Entrepreneurs’ Association, Mr. Pham Duc Binh said that small businesses sometimes make unfair comments on the government policy. In some cases, the law is strict and these firms can not follow and perform well, they think that state agencies create difficulties, particularly for Law on Environment, fire prevention and fire fighting, etc. 

Director of Planning and Investment Department, Mrs. Bo Ngoc Thu also wondered about evaluation result of VCCI, namely the incorrect idea that provincial authorities have prioritized FDI enterprises other than domestic ones during the implementation of investment procedures. Mrs. Thu explained: “FDI enterprises usually choose to invest in ‘clear’ land in industrial zones so investment license is issued more quickly. Meanwhile, it takes more time for domestic companies who prefer to invest in area outside industrial zones to obtain investment license because more procedures are required such as evaluating the area in pursuant to master planning, assessing level of environmental pollution, and impact on residential area. In other aspects including support to enterprise, it is found that the data announced by VCCI is less than what the province authorities have done. 

Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of the legal department of VCCI, assumed that the chamber exploited two information sources from businesses and state agencies. According to Mr. Tuan, there are the disparities between the policy and practical implementation issues. In the upcoming time, VCCI will dispatch its working missions to Dong Nai to study in more details. The ultimate goal is to collect and evaluate data of VCCI in the most objective way. 

Vice Chairman of Provincial People’s Committee (PPC), Mr. Tran Minh Phuc chaired the conference, said that the PCI index declared by VCCI is also a warning for provincial authorities to reconsider. In particular, directly related departments need to apply drastic measures in administrative reform, including Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Commerce, Planning and Investment, etc. Vice Chairman of PPC, Mr. Tran Minh Phuc also proposed VCCI to gather data from provincial People’s Committee in terms of State’s information sources to have more accurate data.