Atsumi Kazuhiko, general director of Long Binh Industrial Park (LOTECO) suggested the local province to review and admend the one-stop process for licensing because the park a number of other businesses within it were encountering many difficulties when submitting one-stop applications.

Kazuhiko said LOTECO wasted three months without getting a decision on if it has to pay taxation for expanding construction in his park. This approval time, according to the current regulations, is only five days maximum.

“This delay has prevented us from having additional documents submitted for the bank to borrow investment capital. As a foreign investor in Vietnam, I have never seen the application for a licence to build or renovate a construction is such difficult, time-consuming and costly," Kazuhiko said.

“I proposed that new construction projects of less than 5 ha or repair and renovation works within a land area should skip the step of collecting detailed planning opinions from local departments and agencies. It takes time and money because many of those related departments such as the Ward People's Committee and Ward People's Council do not have expertise in considering enterprises’ submissions."

Many enterprises in Long Binh Industrial Park also encounter similar problems. Kazuhiko requested Dong Nai province to consider and suggested related authorities to adjust the current regulations.

In its document sent to Dong Nai Industrial Zones Management Authority (DIZA), a representative from Boss Industrial Co., Ltd. in Song May Industrial Park also said that the company had experienced difficulty when expanding its factory.

“According to Decree No.35/2023/ND-CP, it is necessary to prepare a master plan for all new investment projects and existing expansion projects, which causes difficulties and takes a lot of time. A venture completely granted a construction permit must take nine months to complete legal procedures,” the company said.

Nguyen Tri Phuong, director of the DIZA, said that currently, expanding factories or repairing works in the factory is carried out according to Decree 35.

The inadequacies that prolong procedures and affect the business's plans have been proposed by Dong Nai People's Committee to the Ministry of Construction (MoC) to amend, but the ministry is still researching the process.

“While waiting for regulations to be amended, Dong Nai established a Planning Council under the DIZA to shorten the time to complete procedures for businesses instead of having to get opinions from the local Planning Council, which takes a lot of time,” Phuong said.

In addition to issues with construction procedures, businesses also reported problems related to land procedures, tax problems, and power outages that affected the businesses' production.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, Deputy Chairman of Dong Nai People's Committee, said that the province had recorded all businesses’ opinions, and would promptly research and find ways to shorten the process.

“In 2024, the province will continue to implement the policy of attracting green industrial projects, using advanced, clean and environmentally friendly technology to preserve the ecological environment, creating products with high added value, making great contributions to the state budget," Hoang said.

In 2023, Dong Nai attracted nearly $1.23 billion, an increase of over 11 per cent of the year's plan. Among them, there were 81 new projects with a total registered capital amount of over $467 million and 94 projects increased capital worth over $761 million.

In the first quarter of 2024, Dong Nai issued investment registration certificates for 21 new foreign-invested projects valued over $252 million. 129 projects had their investment registration certificates adjusted, of which 23 projects had their capital increased by over $268 million.