It was confirmed by Nguyen Thanh Long, Vice Chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial People's Committee, at an investment promotion conference to call for resources to be poured into Con Dao Island development, held on September 22 in Vung Tau city.
The event gathered the provincial leaders and representatives from over 60 enterprises, as well as investors and those from the relevant local departments and branches.
It aimed to introduce the potential, advantages and tourist attractions of Con Dao and promote the environment and landscape of the island, in addition to announcing several plans for Con Dao and directions to attract investment for sustainable development in the locale. The conference also provided information on the technical infrastructure conditions and exchanged issues of mutual concerns for investors to discover investment opportunities in Con Dao.
The Vice Chairman said that Con Dao Island district has great potential and advantages to attract investment, affirming that the province calls for investment in the fields of tourism, electricity production from renewable resources, hi-tech agriculture and environmental protection.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau will select high-quality investment projects and eligible investors to ensure that the economic development objectives are in line with preserving the environment, landscape and sustainable development of Con Dao, Long said, adding that the province would continue to improve its business investment environment in order to maximise its social resources and create favourable conditions to attract more large-scale projects.
At the conference, the local authorities introduced information concerning the potential, advantages, directions, areas of investment attraction and projects calling for investment in Con Dao, such as the planning of Con Dao National Park, investment procedures in Con Dao National Park, deep water ports, forest and sea resources, local historical and cultural tourism and transport infrastructure connected to waterways and airways.
Furthermore, the Government and Ba Ria-Vung Tau province will offer preferential policies, such as incentives on corporate income tax, import tax and land rent for investors. Specifically, the corporate income tax rate is at only 10% for 15 years from the first year of taxable income, of which investors will enjoy a four year tax exemption and a 50% reduction of tax payable for the following nine years.
For projects in the field of special investment, incentives shall be exempt for land rent and water surface rent for the whole duration of the project. Local enterprises in the district are exempt for the next 15 years.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Transport develop plans to invest in upgrading and expanding the local Co Ong airport in order to receive larger aircrafts, meeting the increasing travel needs of domestic and international visitors and shortening the travel time to the island.
In addition, it is important to invest in increasing the number of passenger and cargo ships on Vung Tau-Con Dao and Con Dao-Soc Trang routes, while focusing on upgrading electricity and water supply systems.
To date, Con Dao has a total of 26 foreign and domestic projects in operation with total investment capital of US$33 million and VND902 billion, respectively.
