9:28:14 AM | 16/11/2011
Located in the southern key economic zone, Long An province is powered by convenient transport systems, many industrial parks, opening up policies, an ideal investment environment, complete socioeconomic infrastructure, and higher living standards, said Mr Do Huu Lam, Chairman of Long An Provincial People’s Committee. He talked about the achievements in the past year and revealed development orientations for the upcoming time to Vietnam Business Forum. Ha Linh reports.
In 2010, Long An gradually overcame difficulties to make progress in all socioeconomic aspects. What impressed you most? What is the growth target in 2011 like?
In 2010, the province’s economic growth was 12.6 percent, up from 7.6 percent in 2009. Particularly, Region I saw the growth of 5 percent (compared with 4 percent in 2009); Region II, 19.4 percent (8.3 percent) and Region III, 12.1 percent (11.3 percent).
The most remarkable result in 2010 was the province's industry regaining growth momentum following a serious downturn in the earlier year. The recovery was very rapid and clear. Growth in the first quarter 2010 topped 19.5 percent in Region I, thus boosting its role as economic driver.
After reviewing socioeconomic development in 2010 and economic recovery prospects, Long An province aims for 13.5 - 14 percent growth. However, inflation escalated from the very start of 2011 and the Government adopted a tightened monetary policy to stabilise macro economy, forcing the province to revise the growth goal to 12 - 12.5 percent.
How has Long An province strived to reform, boost economic development and improve local living standards?
The Resolution of the 9th Provincial Party Congress defined four key programmes for the 2011 - 2015 stage: The programme to develop human resources, create jobs and reduce poverty synchronously; the programme to invest in building and developing new rural areas; the programme to mobilise all resources to build traffic, electric and water infrastructure systems for industrial development; and the programme to exploit and utilise resources and protect the environment. These programmes cover many socioeconomic aspects; hence, the province will focus its resources to carry them out to integrate deeper and wider, develop economy and enhance people’s living standards.
In the longer term, to ensure fast-growing and sustainable economic development, the province has hired Japanese consulting units to advise on building the provincial development master plan for the 2011 - 2020 period and vision to 2030. To date, the draft has been completed and many development orientations have been put forth.
In the Mekong Delta region, Long An is one of the most attractive destinations for investors. However, there is still room for much more investment. What will Long An province do to attract more investment?
In recent years, Long An province has attained monumental achievements in domestic and foreign investment attraction, but the outcome falls short of local potential partially because of weak and incomplete infrastructure systems, particularly traffic, electric and water infrastructure for industrial production development. Therefore, infrastructure construction and development will be the basis for exploiting local potential and advantages, attracting all investment resources effectively, accelerating economic growth and restructuring for the process of industrialisation and modernisation.
From the above requirements, the province has built the programme to mobilise all resources to build traffic, electric and water infrastructure systems for industrial development in the 2011 - 2015 period and create the foundation for more sustainable industrial development in the future. According to the programme, the province will prioritise allocating about VND2,300 billion to invest in transport infrastructure, electricity and water. In addition, the province will try to mobilise capital from various sources like the Central Government, power industry and companies. Capital mobilised from such sources may reach billions of US dollars.
What are Long An’s potentials and advantages in attracting investors? How will Long An develop these strengths in the upcoming time?
Long An province, located in the southern key economic zone, is a connecting point for Ho Chi Minh City, the largest economic and cultural centre of Vietnam, to the north with some Mekong Delta provinces (Tien Giang and Dong Thap) to the south. The province has the estuary of Soai Rap River running into the East Sea (South China Sea). It also shares a borderline with Cambodia, with two international border gates of Binh Hiep - Moc Hoa and My Quy Tay - Duc Hue. Long An is known as an expansive industrial and urban zone of Ho Chi Minh City. These are favourable conditions for Long An to develop its economy and boost both domestic and international trade.
Besides, the province also has a very convenient traffic system constituted by National Highway 1A, National Road N1, National Road N2, National Road 50, National Road 62, Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Highway, Belt Road 3, and Belt Road 4. As regards waterways, the province has two main routes, Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay, joining together with the Soai Rap River estuary. The province is home to the underway Port Cluster 5 designed to serve importation and exportation in the southern region.
Besides, Long An province has 30 industrial zones (11 in operation) and 40 centralised industrial complexes with a total area of about 15,000 ha located near main traffic routes - a prime condition to attract investors.
To promote local advantages, the province will focus on implementing the following tasks in the future: Reviewing, adjusting and supplementing planning; quickly clearing construction sites for key projects, industrial parks, industrial complexes and urban zones; reforming regimes and mechanisms to attract more domestic and foreign investment capital, selecting effective investment options, ensuring environmental sustainability and attracting industries in support of agricultural and high-tech development; concentrating different resources to build infrastructure for industrial development; enhancing the predictability of manpower and employment by orienting vocational training system development to meet local human resource demand; building up highly skilled, professional technical workers to meet current production requirements; and reforming administrative procedures for the better service of citizens and businesses, improving investment environment quality, and raising provincial competitiveness index (PCI).
How has the Government-backed public investment reduction policy been carried out in Long An? Has your province encountered any difficulty in implementation process?
Immediately after the Government issued Resolution 11/NQ-CP dated February 24, 2011 on major solutions curbing inflation, stabilising the macro economy and ensuring social security, the Provincial Party Committee issued Directive 10-CT/TU dated March 9, 2011 with thorough instruction on implementing the Government’s Resolution. Besides, the Provincial People's Committee adopted the Action Programme called 682/CTr-UBND dated March 11, 2011 to execute the Government’s Resolution in the province.
In the field of basic construction, Long An province has reduced, delayed or rescheduled 24 projects with a total capital of VND39.805 billion to supplement capital for 27 projects to be completed in 2011. In addition, to practise financial prudence, the Provincial People’s Committee decided to issue a list of specific thrift tasks for all sectors, cutting down a total of VND56.908 billion. It also strictly punished deliberate violators of directives.
In general, the process of implementing Resolution 11/NQ-CP is so far so good. All departments, agencies and localities are strictly carrying out Resolution 11/NQ-CP of the Government and the Action Programme PPC 682/CTr-UBND of the Provincial People’s Committee.
Vietnamese
