The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) wants the master zoning plan for textile and garment industry development plan revised as it has become outdated. The industry’s shipments amounted to US$27.5 billion last year and are expected to soar to US$31 billion this year. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the master zoning plan for textile and garment industry development until 2020 with a vision toward 2030, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa said.

Thoa said that Vietnam’s textile and garment sector is projected to grow strongly in the next decade owing to more bilateral and multilateral trade agreements the country has signed, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Also apparel importers are shifting orders to markets with abundant low-cost labor.

According to VITAS chairman Vu Duc Giang, there is a big gap between the master zoning plan and reality, so the association has called for the Government and relevant ministries and agencies to review and revise it.

The textile and garment industry is in a good position to grow stronger and that the Government needs to have a long-term strategy to develop the industry and enable it to bank on opportunities from the country’s deeper international integration.

Vitas proposed the ministries of industry-trade and planning-investment work out viable plans to develop central industrial parks (IPs) for textile and garment firms to better manage wastewater treatment and ensure sustainable growth for the industry.

The industry needs large-scale IPs for domestic and foreign-invested producers of fiber and cloth and dyeing enterprises.

Some such IPs have gone up in Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces but they are smaller than required, such as Pho Noi B covering only 121.8 hectares in the northern province of Hung Yen and Nguyen Duc Canh having an area of 102 hectares in the northern province of Thai Binh.

Vitas requested the Government to consider establishing industrial parks measuring 500-1,000 hectares for textile and garment enterprises and providing loan interest support for enterprises to invest in integrated wastewater treatment facilities.

The association wanted improved waterway and road connectivity between large-scale IPs for apparel firms and ports and logistics centers to help enterprises in the sector lower costs.

Giang pointed out large-scale IPs, better traffic infrastructure, effective management of wastewater treatment and environmental issues, and stable policies for taxes, fees and wages, and streamlined customs procedures as important factors for sustainable development of the industry.

IPs with good wastewater treatment facilities will help attract fiber, textile and dyeing firms, especially foreign-invested ones, producing more materials for the industry.

Than Duc Viet, deputy general director of Garment Corporation No. 10, said that as most of the firms in the industry are small and medium and have limited finances. The Government should finance construction of textile and garment IPs and wastewater treatment facilities to help enterprises reduce costs.