Fishing boats at Tho Quang Port, Da Nang City. (Photo:VNA)
Da Nang (VNS/VNA) – The central city of Da Nangis aiming for the sea-based economy along with tourism and hi-techindustry to drive its growth over the next 25 years.
Being one of 28 coastal localities of Vietnam, Da Nang ishome to a more than 15,000sq.m fishing ground, 70km of coast and deep-waterports.
It plays a key political, economic, security, defence roleand is set to become a major maritime economic hub and driving force of thecentral-Central Highlands region.
According to the municipal Department of Agriculture andRural Development, the city’s total output of fishery products in 2019 reached37,636 tonnes, up 3.8 percent compared to the previous year.
Fishing has been a traditional industry in the city for a longtime.
Nam O Fishing Village in Lien Chieu district is well knownfor making fish sauce and is still the main source of income for villagersthere.
Nguyen Phu Ban, Director of the city Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said to preserve the tradition of makingfish sauce, city authorities had implemented a series of policies todevelop the fishery sector and assist fishermen.
Since 2014, the city has allocated 110 billion VND (4.7million USD) to assist fishermen to build 141 boats with a capacity of 400CV.
As part of the city’s plan to upgrade fishery infrastructure,a fishery service industrial zone and seafood wholesale market were built in ThoQuang ward and developed into a fishery logistics service area which isthe docking port of ships and boats from not only the city but from across thecountry.
In 2010, Tho Quang Port welcomed more than 10,800 boats andships with more than 63,300 tonnes of fishery products.
Eight years later in 2018, the number of boats and shipspassing the port more than doubled (nearly 23,800) with nearly 129,600 tonnesof fish.
Following a resolution adopted by the Politburo last year,fishery development will become one of the five spearhead economic areasof the city.
According to Ban, the city aims to switch fromtraditional fishing to modern and sustainable methods which use advancedtechnologies.
The city has encouraged fishermen to switch from inshorefishing for commercial purposes to fishing combined with tourism, services andentertainment activities and reviving traditional fishing villages toorganise village tours.
The local Department of Agriculture and Rural Developmentalso plans to step up inspections of offshore fishing totackle illegal fishing and apply IT in managing fishing boats, he said.
At the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2019 in Da Nang last November,domestic and foreign experts said Da Nang had opportunities to become aregional and global logistics hub.
According to Ho Ky Minh, Vice Chairman of the city People’sCommittee, to turn Da Nang into a logistics hub of the central region by 2030,the city had upgraded transport network connecting ports with cargo terminalsand the Hai Van Tunnel.
Lien Chieu Port is hoped to become a gateway into ASEAN andthe Asia-Pacific logistics service supply chain. By 2030, it will cover 35ha.By 2045, the area will be expanded to 69ha.
The third terminal of the Da Nang International Airport willbe constructed and serve 13 to 15 million passengers per year.
Logistics services of Da Nang are expected to meet30 percent of cargo transporting demand through ports by 2025 and 55 percentby 2050.
Minh said the biggest difficulty was a lack of logisticshuman resources because there was no local facility specialising inlogistics training.
At the Vietnam Logistic Forum 2019, the municipal People’sCommittee and Vietnam Logistics Business Association signed a cooperationagreement on training innovative and high-quality human resources for logisticsservices.
As one of three pillars of the city’s growth, the tourismsector in Da Nang welcomed good news in 2019 with the largest number offoreign visitors ever recorded at nearly 3.5 million.
However, according to the municipal Department of Tourism,the sector is seeing a rapid growth of tourists, which may result in overloadedinfrastructure and spoiling environment.
Truong Thi Hong Hanh, director of the department, said in2019-21, besides developing markets like the Republic of Korea, China, Japan,the city would step up promotion in potential markets like western Europe,Russia, Australia, North America and India./.
