Vietnam needs more preferential policies to attract foreign investors in the environment as the country’s demand for investment in the field is huge, but the capacity of domestic businesses remains limited, heard a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on May 9.

A waste treatment system in Ho Chi Minh City 

Nguyen Viet Thang, deputy head of the Vietnam Environment Administration’s Department of Science Technology and International Cooperation, said that Vietnam needs 93 trillion VND (4.07 billion USD) to produce environmental equipment by 2020, and the figure will rise to 222 trillion VND (9.7 billion USD) by 2030.

Among 357 Vietnamese firms operating in this field, 22 percent want to invest in environmentally friendly technology.

However, the environmental industry has met only about 3 percent of demand for urban waste water treatment, 15 percent of demand for solid waste treatment and 14 percent for hazardous waste, Thang noted.

Director of the Republic of Korea’s Busan Environmental Corporation Seo Hye Sook said the corporation will help Korean enterprises if they want to invest in Vietnam in the environment.

She also invited Vietnamese businesses to attend an exhibition on environmental technologies to be held in Busan in September to seek investment cooperation.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Vietnamese Government has issued many preferential policies to boost the production of environmentally-friendly products, and the application of environmentally-friendly technologies in transport infrastructure, energy, waste treatment and agriculture.

Vietnam also increased administrative fines to up to 2 billion VND (87,700 USD) per violation act to force enterprises to shift to environmentally-friendly production.

Specifically, investors in the field can enjoy preferential policies on tariff on import of equipment and production technology, and reduction or exemption of corporation tax.-VNA