Clam harvesting in Thoi Thuan commune, Binh Dai district, Ben Tre province. (Source: VNA)

According to Chairman of the Ben Tre provincial People's Committee Tran Ngoc Tam, in the provincial planning for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050, Ben Tre identified to develop towards the East with 50,000 ha of coastal area.

Developing the province’s eastern part is one of its key and breakthrough tasks set in the Resolution of the 11th provincial Party Congress for the 2020 – 2025 term. This direction will create a new momentum, opening up a space for comprehensive socio-economic development for the province with a goal of making Ben Tre a fairly developed province by 2030 and a livable place by 2050.

Tam said that under the province’s orientation to develop 50,000 ha towards the sea, the province seeks investment in the fields of aquaculture, energy, seaports, and logistics to develop trade services, tourism and coastal urban areas.

Of the total 50,000 ha to be reclaimed from the sea, the land reclamation in Binh Dai district will be the largest with about 21,000 ha, followed by Thanh Phu district with 15,000 ha, and Ba Tri district about 14,000 ha.

Developing fisheries, energy, transportation, and logistics is considered as sea-based economic spearheads that will help the province to go prosperous, Tam said."The reclaimed sea area in the east of Ba Tri - Binh Dai - Thanh Phu districts is identified as an important driving economic zone that brings opportunities to help Ben Tre become a fairly developed province, a livable locality in the Mekong Delta in particular and the whole country in general," Tam said.

The province has been promptly implementing preferential mechanisms and policies to realise the goals.

The provincial official said that for investment projects in the three coastal districts of Ba Tri, Binh Dai, and Thanh Phu, investors will enjoy a policy of land rent exemption for 11 years after finishing basic construction; the highest preferential corporate income tax rate of 10% applied for the first 15 years, and the 4-year exemption and 50% reduction of tax payable for the next nine years.

For projects with private investment, in addition to incentives offered by the Government, investors will enjoy specific incentive mechanisms and policies for specific localities.

For infrastructure investment in industrial parks and industrial clusters, investors will enjoy incentives in terms of land rent exemption and reduction, and area-based preferential tax rates.

Investors will also be supported with compensation costs for site clearance up to 20% when investing in industrial cluster infrastructure and up to 30% in industrial park infrastructure. The maximum land lease term is 50 years.

When investing in projects in Chau Thanh, Giong Trom, Cho Lach, Mo Cay Nam, and Mo Cay Bac districts, investors will exempted from land rent for seven years after the end of the basic construction period. Investors will enjoy tax incentives at a corporate tax rate of 17% applied for the first 10 years, and a 2-year exemption and 50% reduction of tax payable for the next four years.

In case there is no taxable income in the first three years, from the first year of revenue from the new investment project, the tax reduction and exemption period will be calculated from the 4th year.

In addition, Ben Tre has also issued policies and regulations on investment incentives for secondary projects inside and outside industrial parks; and policies for investment projects in rural agriculture and a resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to support start-ups, leading enterprises, small- and medium-sized enterprises in the province.

Preferential policies on tax, land lease, and support for human resource training are built by the province in the direction of the highest incentives compared to the whole country.

In particular, investors only need to work with a single contact point at the Investment Promotion and Start-up Centre to get support.

In the first nine months of 2024, Ben Tre issued investment registration certificates for five projects, including a foreign direct investment (FDI) project with registered capital of 2.65 million USD and four domestic ones with registered capital of 82.75 billion VND (3.3 million USD).

Up to now, the province has had 330 valid investment projects inclduing 68 FDI projects with a total registered capital of more than 1.659 billion USD and 262 domestic projects with a total registered capital of over 59.5 trillion VND.