Border Economic Zone - The picture of 30 years and the direction for the new period? Part 2: The Economic Zone on the Laos-Cambodia border: Regrets of

Cau Treo Border Economic Zone gate is silent. Photo: Hồng Nụ

"Clinical death" in the middle of the millennium

Visiting Cau Treo Border Economic Zone (Ha Tinh) after 15 years of establishment, we cannot help but be surprised by the desolate scene here. The scene of busy trading activities of consumer goods, electronics and refrigeration from Thailand with many trucks transporting rosewood running up and down is no longer available.

In 2007, Cau Treo Border Economic Zone (Ha Tinh) was established and operated under Decision No. 162/2007/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. Recognized as a non-tariff zone, with a series of preferential policies on financial, investment and land for investors operating in the BEZ, thus, dozens of projects, hundreds of businesses and thousands of individual households have participated in production and business investment here.

With a fervent spirit, after the first eight years of establishment (2008-2015), Cau Treo has become a dynamic and bustling economic zone, a bright spot in the economic development of Ha Tinh province.

Cau Treo Border Economic Zone has attracted 100 domestic and foreign enterprises to invest and be licensed for business registration. In particular, 17 projects have been granted investment certificates with a total capital of more than VND3,500 billion; over 1,200 individual business households trading goods; 1,000 small traders were granted business registration certificates.

This potential land has attracted many large and small restaurants and hotels, and the non-tariff area quickly becomes an attractive destination for tourist groups.

With the advantage of tax incentives, every day, this place is crowded with vehicles entering and leaving the shopping centre area to collect electronic goods, refrigeration, cosmetics, confectionery, consumer goods, etc., and deliver them to the North. As a result, many small traders have quickly become the "distribution boss" of Thai consumer goods to the whole country.

Not only trading in electronic products, but this place is also a focal point for operating the rosewood business with 3-4 times the profit, creating a rich land with famous giants.

As a result, the Government quickly identified Cau Treo Economic Zone as one of the nine key border economic zones in the 2016-2020 period, receiving preferential investment capital.

But now that glorious scene was gone, the place became unbelievably quiet. Currently, most of the projects considered as the locomotives of the Cau Treo Border Economic Zone are dying prematurely; small and medium enterprises face too many difficulties: all investment projects here are abandoned without a single person.

For example, the tax-free general trade centre of CK Company invested VND112 billion and started construction (April 2012) at the most beautiful location in the economic zone, which is currently lying dormant and covered by weeds. Or Dai Kim Industrial Park (Son Kim 1 commune, Huong Son district) with a total area of ​​35 hectares. Four deployed projects collapsed when it was newly formed, and the investors all "left their property and ran for people".

Moc Bai - "City of the sun" does not shine anymore

In 1998, Moc Bai Economic Zone was planned and piloted several development policies. In 2009, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1849/QD-TTg approving the adjustment of the general planning for the construction of the Moc Bai border economic zone by 2020 with a total natural area of ​​21,284 ha.

With three border gates (the Moc Bai international border gate and two sub-border gates of Phuoc Chi and Long Thuan), Moc Bai Economic Zone was established to serve economic exchange activities between Vietnam and Cambodia and other countries within ASEAN. Located on the Trans-Asia Road (starting from Myanmar, passing through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and ending in Guangxi, China), Moc Bai Economic Zone is only a short distance from Ho Chi Minh City - the largest economic centre of Vietnam with 70 km and 170 km to Phnom Penh (Cambodia).

With a strategic location and preferential policies, Moc Bai border economic zone was once known as the "Sun City" with many exciting trading activities.

In 2007, Moc Bai Border Economic Zone welcomed more than two million domestic and international visitors. Sales of enterprises reached VND900 billion. There were 56 registered investment projects, including 11 foreign investment (FDI) and 22 domestic projects that had contributed to creating jobs for more than 17,500 employees…

Visiting Moc Bai BEZ in the last days of May 2022, we witnessed the desolate scene of the area that was once considered a "shopping centre". Supermarkets and duty-free shops are closed and only a few stores still operate some low-value items.

On both sides of the main roads such as Xuyen A and 75A, around the border economic zone, there are only a few cafes, auto repair shops and a few economy rice stalls for truck and container drivers transporting goods through Cambodia.

The bus station of the border gate is empty. Many roads began to deteriorate. The road surface appeared to have potholes. The lighting system was damaged. The adjacent housing projects in the border gate's urban center are suffering. Dozens of spaciously built houses worth hundreds of billions of dong were unfinished.

Acknowledging that "all business activities are maintained level", Mrs Nguyen Thanh Thuy Dung, Head of Human Resources Department of Golden Century Co., Ltd., said that: the company invested in a large duty-free supermarket system in the Moc Bai border economic zone, but after a bustling business period, in May 2012, the duty-free supermarket had to stop operating temporarily. Currently, businesses have to narrow their business activities with relatively low revenue. The company's container parking service business, with an average volume of about 100 vehicles per day, has not yet met all the traffic at the Moc Bai border gate area.

With what is going on, it can be said that "Sun City" has no longer shined!

An Giang - The bridge is not open yet

Identified as one of the nine national key economic zones, An Giang Border Economic Zone (established and put into operation in 2008) has a great advantage when there are three key border gate areas: Tinh Bien, Vinh Xuong and Khanh Binh. These are the three important gateways for Vietnamese goods to penetrate and spread to the Cambodian market, the Mekong sub-region, and Southeast Asia.

Talking to a reporter of Customs News, Mr Lam Phu Tuan, Director of Indochina Co., Ltd., said: that Indochina Co., Ltd. was one of the enterprises that boldly invested in performing services in Tinh Bien Border Economic Zone (An Giang). The enterprise has invested in gathering places for goods inspection and supervision locations of more than 11,000 m², including the office for customs authority, cargo warehouse, and evidence warehouse. Recently, the centralized goods inspection site of Indochina Co., Ltd. has attracted many import-export businesses to wait for customs procedures. In addition, enterprises also boldly invested in eight conveyor belts serving for importing and exporting rice at the border gate.

Gathering location for inspecting import-export goods at Tinh Bien Border (An Giang province). Photo: Thu Dịu

Investing in warehouses at the Khanh Binh - Chrey Thom border gate (An Phu, An Giang), Duong Lan Import-Export Service One Member Limited Liability Company has been very convenient in performing services to attract goods to the yard. Ms Duong Phuong Lan, director of the company, said that the company would expand investment in warehouses and roofs to increase services for import and export goods of border residents and businesses.

However, businesses are worried that the general infrastructure in this area is not synchronized.

According to the plan, three border economic zones, Tinh Bien, Vinh Xuong and Khanh Binh (total area of 26,500 ha), will be built with full functional subdivisions such as tax-suspension area, bonded warehouse, commercial centre, urban area, farmer's market, entertainment. But so far, the total investment in infrastructure for the three border economic zones is only about VND 100 billion, which is too little compared to the demand of about VND 1,000 billion. Meanwhile, the annual state budget capital is only about VND 10 billion. Therefore, most of the border economic zone here are still struggling with site clearance. Only Tinh Bien Border Economic Zone has Xuan To industrial cluster with an area of ​​57ha under construction in phase 1. Tax-suspension area at the border gate, duty-free supermarkets are registered to build by five investors in An Giang and Ho Chi Minh City.

It can be seen that, like many other localities, An Giang Border Economic Zone is in a situation of "so much to do, so little gets done" with little capital, scattered investment, sluggish infrastructure construction, and difficulty in attracting investors. Meanwhile, the arterial traffic infrastructure system connecting An Giang with the Cambodian border provinces is incomplete on both sides, causing significant obstacles to trade activities.

A series of border economic zones have been established to promote goods trade with Laos and Cambodia. However, after many years of implementation, though there has been a development when the reality and policies change, most of these areas face difficulties, revealing many obstacles that are not easy to fix and solve.