Connecting to develop completely
On an early Autumn day, we made a field trip to industrial parks and potential lands, which are ready to welcome investors. Just like in the article by the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Vo Van Hung in the book: "Liberating Quang Tri - Fighting, defending the Ancient Citadel in 1972 - Half a century of construction, renovation and development" published by the Ministry of National Defense and Quang Tri Province Party Committee: Located in the North Central Region, Quang Tri “converged” with key traffic points on roads, railways and waterways, which are convenient for exchanges between the North and South, especially National Highway 9A located on the East-West economic corridor, which is the closest and most convenient trans-Asia route connecting Vietnam with ASEAN countries through Lao Bao international border gate, convenient in exchange and economic development for the central region and the whole Vietnam.
With the advantage of being the gateway to the East Sea of the Mekong sub-region countries, Quang Tri focuses on building and developing economic axes connecting the Southeast Quang Tri economic zone with the East-West economic corridor. and Lao Bao Special Economic - Commercial Zone; forming a road corridor from La Lay international border gate to My Thuy deep-water port connecting with southern provinces of Laos and northeastern Thailand.
From 2020 up to now, foreign investment activities in Savannakhet Province, especially in Sepon district, have been increasingly high. Goods in transit from Da Nang port through Lao Bao international border gate to Laos and vice versa, increased dramatically. In 2020, there were 620,000 turns of vehicles with a cargo volume of 1.53 million tons, worth US$8.9 billion; In 2021, the volume and value of goods in transit increases by over 30% compared to 2020. Since December 3, 2021, the Vientiane (Laos) - Kunming (China) railway line officially operated and opened the opportunities to form the Da Nang - Lao Bao - Vientiane - Kunming transport corridor, connecting the vast Mekong sub-region (GMS). It is forecasted that in the period of 2022 - 2030, investment and trade activities in Lao Bao (Vietnam) - Densavan (Laos) area will become more active. Quang Tri Province has been coordinating with Savannakhet Province to propose the two governments to pilot the construction of a common economic zone on the border.
Quang Tri pays special attention to planning and attracting investment in large-scale transport infrastructure projects, such as airports and seaports; transport projects connecting the coast, upgrading and expanding National Highway 9,..., promoting the procedures for establishing and investing in infrastructure of industrial parks such as: Northwestern Ho Xa Industrial Park (the area of 215 ha), Trieu Phu Multi-Industry Park (528.97 ha), Quang Tri-VSIP8 Industrial Park (the area of 481.2 ha) with the participation of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park Limited Liability Company, Amata Bien Hoa Urban Joint Stock Company and Sumitomo Corporation, in which, currently, VSIP8 is starting the preparation steps for the project implementation.
Turning hot and dry westerly wind "energy" into an invaluable resource
According to the Chairman of Quang Tri Province People's Committee Vo Van Hung, Quang Tri is affected by harsh hot and dry westerly wind. However, with the era of comprehensive economic development, Quang Tri has considered the hot and dry westerly wind as a great potential to develop energy projects, especially renewable energy; identify the energy industry as a breakthrough development field, the main pillar for strong economic development on the “steel land”.
Western Quang Tri is an area with potential for wind power development, which has been "in the sights" of many investors in energy development. The energy industry already exists in the sunny and windy land and will turn Quang Tri into the energy center of the Central Region of Vietnam. Up to now, the whole province of Quang Tri has had 31 wind power projects approved for planning with a total capacity of 1,177.2MW, typically the two projects with a capacity of 60MW have been put into operation; 29 projects are under investment. If it includes the 11 projects under the stage of research, survey, making additional planning documents, then the wind power projects almost cover this mountainous area in the western region of Quang Tri.
The Standing Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Province People's Committee Ha Sy Dong said that Quang Tri Province will definitely become an energy center of the Central region, as it is the receiving point of natural gas from Bao Vang field, 100km away from the mainland and in the near future Ken Bau gas field from the East Sea, with the largest reserve ever discovered less than 80km from the mainland of Quang Tri... By the year 2025, Quang Tri Province aims to reach about 5,000 MW of electricity from thermal power plants, gas power plants, wind power plants, solar power plants, biomass power plants and hydropower plants, contributing to creating a new impetus for the steel land of Quang Tri to develop a diversified and rich economy.
Steel land blooming day by day
Regarding the domestic investment, Quang Tri currently has 535 valid projects with a total investment capital of 175.17 trillion VND, in which, the investment capital in 2021 accounts for more than 40% of the total investment capital. Regarding the foreign investment, Quang Tri currently has 26 valid foreign investment projects with a total registered capital of over 2.5 billion USD, ranked the 32nd position out of 63 provinces and cities. Especially, in 2021, Hai Lang LNG Power Center project - phase 1, with a capacity of 1,500 MW with a total investment of over 2.3 billion USD has been granted an investment registration certificate. This is a national project, of great significance not only to Quang Tri Province but also to the whole Vietnam.
Quang Tri airport will be built at Gio Quang, Gio Hai and Gio Mai communes, Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province, with an expected land use demand of more than 265 hectares. The scale of Quang Tri airport is at the level 4C (according to the standard code of the International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO) and military airport level II. The planned capacity is 1 million passengers/year and 3,100 tons of cargo/year. It is expected that its phase 1 will build the basic works of Quang Tri airport up to the standards of level-4C airport and level-II military airport according to the planning and reach a capacity according to the airport’s forecast of about 2, 2 million passengers/year in 2046 and about 5,600 tons of cargo in 2042.
by Anh Binh - Phan Tien
