Industrial Park enters new phase | Forty local projects withdrew from Hengqin park

Forty of the investment projects for the Guangdong-Macau Co- operation Industrial Park in Hengqin withdrew from the park without ever being launched, within four years of the Industrial Park first calling for investments in 2014.

In previous project recruitment, Macau recommended a total of 83 projects enter the Hengqin Industrial Park.

According to the director of Administrative Committee of the Hengqin New Area, Yang Chuan, cooperation agreements have been signed with 27 of the projects recommended by Macau.

Forty of the 83 investment projects withdrew after negotiations between the governments of Hengqin and Macau.

According to acting chairman of the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Irene Lau, there are no special reasons behind these 40 projects’ withdrawal.

However, Lau explained that many investors were unaware of Hengqin’s requirements when they first heard about the investment opportunities. Indeed, the investors only realized they could not meet Hengqin’s requirements upon beginning discussions with Hengqin.

IPIM and the Administrative Committee of the Hengqin New Area will begin a new round of investment recruitment for Guangdong-Macau Co-operation Industrial Park. Applications for the remaining 2.57 square kilometers in the Park are being accepted with a new assessment mechanism. At a joint press conference, both Irene Lau and Yang Chuan said the new round of investment recruitment will focus on high- end and new technology, strategic emerging industries and the high-end service industry, with a focus on contributing to the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Previously, the Macau government had acted alone when recommending Macau projects to the Industrial Park.

For this round of new recruitment, both the Macau and Hengqin governments will assign six representatives to assess the projects, along with a jury of 15 industry representatives from Macau.

In order to attract investors from Macau, Hengqin has reduced taxes and land prices.