Therefore, in order to create the most optimal conditions the authority has developed an open investment climate and has gone to great lengths to simplify administrative procedures within the city’s export processing zones and industrial parks (IPs).

Back in 2007, the Can Tho Municipal Export Processing and Industrial Zone Management Authority (CEPIZA) chief Vo Thanh Hung founded a steering committee for the implementation of global quality management standards ISO 9001-2000 to tackle the diverse range of administrative procedures handled by CEPIZA.

The committee is operating a quality management system that follows Vietnamese standards ISO 9001:2008 and tackles these administrative procedures on site at CEPIZA. A specific section was established for receiving and delivering results under CEPIZA management, which vastly improved efficiency at the city’s IPs. This went a long way towards creating a modern, one-stop shop state administration mechanism.

According to CEPIZA’s deputy head Huynh Viet Dung, reforms in administrative procedures have brought many practical benefits, including huge savings in both time and costs.

Many requested certificates and investors’ documents are now processed three to five days earlier than the regulated time, with certain investor certificates processed after only one day.

Last year, CEPIZA’s section in charge of processing investors’ documents received 387 files across 32 different administrative procedures. Of this number, 134 files were delivered ahead of time, accounting for 34.6 per cent, while the remaining 253 files were completed on time, accounting for the remaining 65.4 per cent. No records were delivered behind schedule.

Nguyen Van Thoi, head of the administrative department at Dai Phong Wheat Flour Company Limited, came to CEPIZA to source a revised investment certificate to expand the company’s existing flour mill in the city’s Tra Noc IP.

“With active support from CEPIZA staff, our company was given a revised investment certificate after only three days, compared to 15 days as regulated. I was really happy with the polite attitude of the staff there,” he said.

At present, 28 different types of administrative procedures are processed directly at CEPIZA, belonging to eight discrete areas: environment, goods circulation, investment, foreign employment, occupational safety, construction, construction planning, and business start-up and development.

These procedures are fully listed at CEPIZA’s one-stop shop or on its website. Throughout its years of operation, the administrative mechanism at CEPIZA has been constantly improved in conjunction with staff capabilities.

Besides helping investors to complete procedures quickly, CEPIZA frequently hosts meetings with businesses based in the city’s IPs to listen to any production or trade issues they may be having, and from there finding a timely and effective solution to the problem.

CEPIZA’s efforts to promote administrative procedural reforms have garnered rewards not just for the individual businesses, but for the authority and the city as well.

To date, the city’s export processing zones and IPs are home to 213 on-going projects covering 564.9 hectares of industrial land with the total committed capital of $1.9 billion. Disbursed capital accounts for 44.4 per cent of this, at $849.2 million.

Within the city’s IPs, there are 190 domestic investment projects worth $1.709 billion in the total committed capital and realised capital of $677.3 million. There are also 23 foreign invested projects worth $203.5 million in the total registered capital and realised capital of around $172 million.

In terms of industrial land occupancy rate, Can Tho’s IPs took the lead among locations in the Mekong Delta region with Tra Noc 1 IP fully leased by investors and Tra Noc 2 IP reporting an occupancy rate of nearly 90 per cent.