Targeted incentives to promote community-focused investment

Hai Phong has for years remained among Vietnam's leading localities in attracting investment. However, while the industrial, logistics, and transport infrastructure sectors have proven highly attractive to investors, the fields of education, healthcare, culture, sports, and environmental protection, which primarily serve the community, still need stronger incentives to encourage greater business participation. One of the biggest obstacles is the cost of land.

For socialization and nonprofit projects, investment efficiency is measured not by profit margins but by the social value they create. When land rental costs account for a significant share of total investment, the ability to expand project scale, improve service quality, or reduce costs for the public is affected. The city's policy of exempting and reducing land rental fees for socialization and nonprofit projects will provide greater room for investors to move forward with project implementation.

However, the city has not opted for across-the-board incentives. The draft resolution to be submitted to the city People's Council focuses on sectors encouraged for socialization under current regulations, including education, training, vocational education, healthcare, culture, sports, and environmental protection, as well as nonprofit projects and areas prioritized for development.

This targeted approach ensures that incentive resources are directed to the right sectors for the right purposes, preventing policy abuse and unfair competition.

Incentives must always go hand in hand with accountability. During the drafting of the resolution, the Standing Board of the city Party Committee instructed relevant agencies to carefully assess the impact on budget revenue, comprehensively review the legal basis, transitional provisions, and policy beneficiaries.

Building a modern city requires more than new industrial parks, modern seaports, or wide roads. The city also needs quality schools, modern hospitals, cultural centers, sports facilities, environmental protection facilities, and social institutions capable of meeting the growing needs of residents. Such facilities require greater participation from the private sector through sufficiently attractive policies.

In the competition to attract investment among localities, advantages lie not only in infrastructure or geographical location but also in institutional quality and the government's ability to support investors. If adopted with transparent and practical mechanisms and implemented effectively, the policy of exempting and reducing land rental fees for socialization and nonprofit projects will not only help remove obstacles for investors but also create a new competitive advantage for the city.

HAI MINH