The Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park on the outskirts of Hanoi is believed to have the most modern and complete infrastructure in the country to host only high-tech projects. It is thought to be capable of absorbing multi-billion dollar investments.
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| Established in 1998, the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, about 30 km to the west of Hanoi's downtown, is the first and the largest hi-tech zone in Vietnam, with total area of 1,586 ha. It is expected to become a model science township and a national hub for technology research and development. |
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| As of end-2019, 91 investment projects with a total registered capital of VND86.37 trillion (US$3.76 billion) have landed here. Of the figures, 46 projects are in the fields of training, researching, manufacturing and processing of software, high-tech products of information technology, biotechnology, new material, automation and projects on the development of technical and social infrastructure. |
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| Many large Vietnamese enterprises have invested in the park with heavy-weight projects. A South Korean conglomerate has also poured capital to build an aircraft engine factory. |
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| The park is located along Hanoi’s Thang Long Avenue, with convenient road access to Noi Bai International Airport and Hai Phong deep-sea port. |
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| The Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park is provided with an almost complete internal traffic system with a combined acreage of 220 ha for roads and technical infrastructure. |
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| The integrated technical infrastructure works including the control center, water purifier, wastewater treatment plant, back-up solid waste landfill and power station. |
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| The park is connected to Hanoi’s downtown by bus. An urban rail is expected to be built in the near future to connect the park with the downtown area. |
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| A number of local universities and large corporations have settled down and built research institutes here. It is expected to be the venue of the National Innovation Center (NIC). |
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| The park is meant to become a high-tech incubator, providing human resource training and supply high-tech solutions. |
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| However, after many years of development, social infrastructure around the park is still poor with only a bunch of catering service facilities such as cafes, restaurants, bars and grocery stores and a few housing projects. |
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The development grade of the park has not been commensurate with its potential. In a visit to Hoa Lac in early 2018, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Management Board to make efforts to fill the park with high-tech projects as soon as possible. Currently, the filling rate of the park is 30% of its 1,500 ha, while FDI accounts for 30% of total investment. |
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| In anticipation of the relocation of investment influx from neighboring countries, Luu Hoang Long, head of the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park Management Board, said that the hi-tech park has sufficient capacity and infrastructure to accommodate large-scale foreign-invested projects. |
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However, Long emphasized that in Hoa Lac only hi-tech FDI projects are welcomed. A project, no matter how sizable it is, would be refused to invest here if it is not high-tech. |
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| Long emphasized that if the park is well interconnected with industrial parks nearby to provide investors with a complete ecosystem for research, development and mass production. |
Photos: Zing
