The southeastern province of Dong Nai recently approved a 2010 planning project with a vision towards 2030, aiming to drive local socio-economic growth and lay the foundations for its stable and sustainable development.

According to Chairman of the Dong Nai People’s Council Tran Van Tu, the project looks to concretise the construction plans of the Ho Chi Minh City area and socio-economic planning of the southern key economic region.

It will also help create a linkage to bolster provincial economic development, local people’s living standards and environmentally sustainable and comprehensive development.

Dong Nai is part of the HCM City large area which also covers Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An and Tien Giang provinces.

This area leads in its contribution to national GDP, export-import turnover, foreign investment attraction and other social issues. Specifically, it makes up 60 percent of Vietnam’s State budget collection and 70 percent of national export turnover.

Under its comprehensive socio-economic development plans, the southeastern region strives to lift its annual economic growth to 9.5-10 percent in the 2011-2020 period and per capita GDP to 4,600 USD in 2015 and 6,400 USD by 2020.

The planning of Dong Nai is one of the province’s strategies to take full advantage of its position next to HCM City and attract more investment.

Accordingly, Dong Nai will establish three development areas.

The first, including Bien Hoa city and Long Thanh, Nhon Trach and Trang Bom districts, and part of Vinh Cuu district, will serve as the province’s industrial service-urban centre with Bien Hoa as the nucleus city.

Dong Nai will focus on expanding the area into a highly urbanised zone in combination with the development of hi-tech industrial and specialised parks, logistic systems and tourism services.

Encompassing Long Khanh town and Thong Nhat, Cam My and Xuan Loc districts, the second dynamic development area will play a central role in developing the province’s hi-tech and specialised agricultural sector in addition to its strength in industrial development.

Dinh Quan and Tan Phu districts and part of Vinh Cuu will be grouped to establish Dong Nai’s ecological zone, which will protect the local forest landscape, water resources and biodiversity.

With a favourable network of highways, the province is regarded as a focal region in connection with southern key localities, the Central Highlands and coastal central-south economic zones.

In addition, when Long Thanh International Airport is completed it will be the country’s largest airport and expected to receive 80-100 million passengers a year.

The province also contains a cluster of deepwater seaports that are under construction and being upgraded in Nhon Trach and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, while its waterway system can accommodate large ships.

Dong Nai’s population is forecast to increase to 3.1 million people by 2020, including 1.6 million city-dwellers. The number will hit 3.6 million people by 2030 with 2.6 million living in urban areas. Therefore, the province attaches particular importance to its social and transport infrastructure development in the process of socio-economic growth.

The planning aims at directing the development of the entire Dong Nai region by 2030 with a vision towards 2050 and creating conditions for the establishment of specialised planning projects, investment programmes and policymaking procedures during the socio-economic development process of the province and the HCM City region at large.-VNA