Lao Cai vows six-day project approvals

05:53' 05/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Newly-established firms in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai can now obtain investment licences in as few as six days.
Three administrative agencies – the Department of Planning and Investment (DPI), the provincial Tax Department and the Department of Public Security– have already taken measures to make business registration easier in order to attract greater investment in the province.
The government of Lao Cai province has pioneered a "three-in-one" approach to the registration process, in which the business registration office within the DPI acts as the single access point for business start-up procedures.
In addition to issuing business registration certificates, the DPI is responsible for interacting with the Tax Department and Public Security Department to assess liability under the tax code and issue an official business licence within just 15 days. "The greatest benefit of this model is that it reduces the time to start up a business," said Vu Kim Quy, head of the Business Registry at Lao Cai’s Department of Planning and Investment. "It now takes only six days for businesses to get all the necessary documentation."
Lao Cai is home to nealy 1,100 firms with a total capital of VND4.5 trillion (US$281.25 million). So far this year, 90 firms have been granted licences, with a total capital of VND929 billion ($58.06 million).