The story of a “magnet” attracting FDI
In April 2008, Samsung Electronics Viet Nam officially commenced its construction in Yen Phong, Bac Ninh. By 2017, Samsung Display Viet Nam additionally “pumped” USD 2.5 billion, increasing the investment in this province to USD 4 billion.
Not only Samsung but also a large number of other FDI enterprises select this locality to invest their capital in. Up to now, Bac Ninh has been ranked 6th in the country in attracting FDI, with 33 countries and territories investing in with many large-scale projects from large group such as Canon, Samsung, Fushan, etc.
It’s not a random case that this locality becomes a “good land for investors”. Over the past decade, Bac Ninh has determined that it would use a great number of measures to attract FDI.
Of the 7 such key measures as executing priority policies, improving the quality of investigation, verification for issuing investment certificates, reforming administrative procedures, etc., Bac Ninh has concentrated its resources on improving infrastructure resources including transportation, power, water, waste, wastewater treatment, etc. In which, power is determined as one of top priorities. The provincial authority has organized many activities to improve its infrastructure. Power source, grid always properly meet the needs of high load in industrial zones, etc.
Most recently, the National Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) announced that in Bac Ninh, EVNNPT had put two 220kV transformers with total capacity of 500MVA into operation so as to increase the load capacity.
“In order to attract more FDI enterprises, power is always considered one step ahead,” confirmed by Mr. Tran Viet Ngai, Chairman of Viet Nam Energy Association at an interview with press agencies about the crucial role of the Power sector.
It's not a random case that many large enterprises in the world supply very high demands on power quality and select suitable locations for investment such as Samsung Electronics Corporation of Korea who locates its factories in Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen provinces; American microchip manufacture Intel who locates its factory in Sai Gon high-tech zone of Ho Chi Minh City.
In fact, the recent efforts of the Power sector have made a great contribution to making Viet Nam an attractive destination for FDI enterprises. The review report of 30 years on attracting FDI capital in Viet Nam of the World Bank shows that foreign investment has been one of the largest highlights in the Vietnamese economy over past decades.
According to a recent survey of PwC before the APEC Enterprise Summit, Viet Nam has continued to be the leading country in field of FDI attraction.
Viet Nam ranking at higher position compared to China, Thailand on FDI attraction
Access-to-electricity 2018 - impressive numbers
The efforts made by the Power sector have been particularly recorded in specific numbers. The Doing Business report 2019 dated 31 October 2018 by the World Bank assesses the competitiveness index of 190 economies show that Vietnamese Power sector has made remarkable progresses in recent years.
Accordingly, in 2018, Viet Nam’s access-to-electricity index significantly improved in ranking, reaching the highest rank ever with 87.94 points - ranked at 27/190 countries and economies, increasing by 37 levels compared to 2017.
This index is assessed by criteria of: Procedure, time, costs for connecting to the power grid, reliability of power supply and transparency of electricity prices.
Viet Nam’s access-to-electricity ranked 27th in the world
Viet Nam is the region with the largest improvement in access-to-electricity index in the region, surpassing the Philippines and ranking 4th in ASEAN. This is also the index with the best improvement among 10 indexes of the economy as assessed by Doing Business, contributing to maintaining the positive assessment for business environment in Viet Nam. According to economic experts, only with good electricity services in stable quality, can localities attract domestic and foreign investment capital, improve the competitiveness of each economy.
Regarding the number of procedures and their implementation time of the Power sector, Viet Nam has ranked 2nd in ASEAN region. If it is compared to signatories of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Viet Nam’s access-to-electricity index is currently in the top 4.
As compared with some developed countries, the index of Viet Nam is equal to theirs. Specifically, with equivalent number of procedures, the implementation time is much shortened to only 31 days, less than half compared to the average of East Asia and Pacific countries (65 days) or groups of OECD countries (77.2 days).
| Description column |
Vietnam |
East Asia and Pacific |
OECD countries
|
| Procedure (number) |
4 |
4.3 |
4.5 |
| Time (day) |
31 |
65.0 |
77.2 |
|
Price (% income per capital)
|
1087.3 |
625.1 |
64.2 |
| Power supply reliability and price transparency |
7 |
4 |
7.5 |
Table for Viet Nam’s access-to-electricity index compared to East Asia and Pacific, OECD countries.
Regarding power supply reliability and pricing transparency, Viet Nam has achieved 7/8 points, equivalent to developed countries such as Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark and much better than such large countries as China, India, Brazil, etc.
The Doing Business report also acknowledges continuous improvement of Viet Nam in 2018 with EVN’s reforms in providing quality online electricity services.
Constant efforts of the Power sector
Two workers of EVNHANOI at 220kV GIS substation in Tay Ho, Ha Noi
According to leaders of EVN, in order to achieve results stated in the report of Doing Business, EVN has taken many solutions in customer services.
Accordingly, 100% of EVN’s power supply services can be registered online. Information on regulations is publicly posted on customer service website, inquiry is directly responded via hotline 24/24, customer care centers of EVN nationwide. Customers can pay for electricity bill in various convenient forms.
In the year of 2018, the Power sector works with People’s Committees of Central provinces and cities to provide electricity services to local public administration centers or interconnect, post them to online public service websites of locality, bringing electricity services close to local enterprises and people, improving the level of transparency in the process of electricity service provision.
EVN focuses on applying technology to improve the quality of power supply. This is a crucial factor in significantly improving access-to-electricity index over the past two years.
The breakthrough in the ranking improvement of access-to-electricity index has confirmed positive results for EVN’s restless efforts aiming to provide power users with increasingly better power quality and services.