Development of IT zones yet to meet expectations: experts

Obstacles to investment promotion and development in IT zones across Vietnam were on discussion at a seminar held by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) in Ho Chi Minh City on November 10.

IT parks across Vietnam have earned more than US$200 million in revenue for the software industry, compared to the industry’s total earnings of US$1.6 billion in 2015.

Currently, Vietnam has four IT zones, including Quang Trung Software City in HCM City, Da Nang Software Park in the central city of Da Nang, Hanoi’s Cau Giay IT Park and the Hanoi Software Park.

With preferential incentives from the State, such high-tech zones have initially achieved certain success, attracting investment by large IT corporations both at home and abroad and contributing a significant amount to the revenue of the software sector with a total of US$200 million in 2015 (out of US$1.6 billion for the whole industry).

However, participants at the seminar argued that the development and performance of the concentrated IT areas have yet to meet expectations or set substantial goals.

According to Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of MIC, the impact of IT zones and their influence over the sector have failed to meet the set orientations, nor have they created a favourable environment for IT business activities, investment attraction, and establishment of centres for research and development of large corporations.

There are several causes for this situation, but in part was due to limited investment resources from the State and society, furthermore preferential policies for the areas have not been implemented effectively. Meanwhile, the investment promotion activities of IT zones have been minimal if implemented at all.

From a perspective of the local level, Le Quoc Cuong, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Information and Communications said that the basic element of the software industry was mainly human resources but the attraction of competent human resources was still limited. Therefore, several opportunities to attract investment from major IT corps to Quang Trung Software City have been missed; leading to its stunted growth.

The reason was partly due to underdeveloped infrastructure in comparison with international standards, while services have not met the needs of high-quality human resources.

To enhance investment for such zones, Deputy Minister Hung said the MIC and the Ministry of Planning and Investment are building content for a target programme on IT development during 2016-2020, which is expected to support the development of seven IT zones across the nation.

It is expected that the central budget will support VND40-60 billion (US$1.8-2.7 million) per zone to create spillover effects in order to attract social resources into these projects.

(Source: NDO)