DECISION

APPROVING THE MASTER PLAN ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE COSTAL REGION OF SOUTHERN CENTRAL VIETNAM IN THE PERIOD FROM NOW TILL THE YEAR 2010

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
At the proposals of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Official Dispatch No. 4246/NN-KH/TTr of November 22, 1997 and the Chairman of the State Council for Evaluation of Investment Projects in Official Dispatch No. 8530/HDTD of December 31, 1997,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the Master Plan on the Socio-Economic Development in the Coastal Region of southern Central Vietnam including Da Nang city and the provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa in the period from now till the year 2010 with the following principal contents:

I. GENERAL ORIENTATIONS:

1. To take the industry as the core of the region's economic development along the direction of restructuring the industries in order to develop groups of key industries that have advantages in terms of sources of raw materials closely associated with the natural resources of deep-water ports, to form industrial parks, first and foremost in the strips of Lien Chieu-Da Nang- Dung Quat and Nha Trang-Dien Khanh-Cam Ranh. To turn to the export product processing industry, attaching importance to in-depth investments and giving priority to small and medium-scale investments in combination with key large-scale investments to attract large numbers of laborers.

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To build and exploit deep-water ports so as to develop transportation and port services in connection with building the industrial parks of Lien Chieu-Da Nang-Dung Quat and Van Phong-Nha Trang-Cam Ranh.

3. To develop various forms of domestic and international tourism

4. To develop agriculture and forestry along the direction of protecting the sustainable ecology; to firmly ensure food security, concentrate on the rapid development of some long-term and short-term industrial plants, to develop cattle ranching as a source of raw materials for the processing industry; to attach importance to the protection and development of forests in combination with the preservation of landscapes and ecological environment.

5. In parallel with economic development, to pay attention to the development of technical infrastructure and social base, health protection, the fight against environmental pollution, especially in the key areas of industrial, tourist and service development; to improve living conditions and reduce the population growth rate by 0.1% per year. The socio-economic development must be closely associated with the consolidation of national defense and security.

II. FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIVES:

1. To strive to achieve the region's annual economic growth rate of 11.5% for the 1998-2000 period and 12-13.5% for the 2001-2010 period. The average per-capita GDP shall be about 330-345 USD by the year 2000 and 770-810 USD by the year 2010, which, for the key economic area of Lien Chieu-Da Nang-Dung Quat, shall reach 400-450 USD and 920-1200 USD by 2000 and 2010 respectively.

2. To restructure the region's economy along the direction of industrialization and modernization with the industrial ratio rising to 25-27% by the year 2000 and 35-39% by the year 2010, tourism services accounting for 45-48% by the year 2000 before increasing to 45-49% by the year 2010, and agriculture representing 17-19% by the year 2000 and 9-10% by the year 2010.

3. The annual export value shall increase at an annual rate of 25-30%

4. To develop education and training, health, culture and social affairs, to foster and develop human resources and raise the labor quality according to the requirement of industrialization and modernization and create a motive force for economic growth and improve the people's material and spiritual life.

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1. Regarding the industrial sector:

To quickly develop industries, especially the industries of oil refinery and exploitation of minerals (heavy mineral sand, tiling stone, glass sand, spa water...), to develop the agricultural and forest products processing industry..., to speed up the process of the region's economic restructuring, to enhance the fishing capacity and promote the aquatic and marine product processing industry, especially for export, to invest in the mechanical industry, chiefly ship building and repair; to develop textile, leather and apparel industries... in service of the people's life and export.

To step by step make concentrated investment in the industrial parks with advanced technologies in order to achieve high efficiency.

To develop various industries and industrial parks so as to create a motive force for the entire region to keep pace with the national development tempo.

2. Regarding agriculture, forestry and aquatic and marine resources:

- Regarding agriculture: To strive to maintain the growth rate on the basis of strongly restructuring the agricultural production along the direction of intensive farming and crop multiplication to produce large quantities of commodity products, to bring into full play existing irrigation projects and build new ones in service of intensive farming in combination with the acreage expansion in order to step by step achieve the objective of food security and contribute to the export; to attach importance to preventing and combating natural disasters such as floods and storms; to expand the areas under short-term industrial plants like sugarcane, groundnuts and tobacco together with such long-term ones as cashew, coconut, coffee, tea, rubber, cacao and pepper to create a source of raw materials for the processing industry; to develop agriculture in combination with forestry and hill horticulture so as to create a sustainable development environment, to attach importance to the planting of fruit trees in service of the daily life and the creation of beautiful landscapes and attractive environment for tourism.

To strongly develop and husbandry and make it a commodity production branch, to strive to bring the ratio of husbandry in the total agricultural output value to over 30% by the year 2000 and 40-45% by the year 2010, to step up the raising of dairy and beef cows, pigs and poultry.

- Regarding forestry: To protect 897,000 hectares of existing natural forests, to manage and tend 71,700 hectares of planted forests and cover more than 1 million hectares of waste land and bare hills with forests, thus putting the total forest areas to 2.1 million hectares, in which:

+ The system of production forests is around 1.3 million hectares.

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+ The system of special-purpose forests is around 0.23 million hectares.

To increase the forest coverage percentage to 44-45% by the year 2000 and 62-68% by the year 2010.

- Regarding aquatic and marine resources: To invest in developing the aquatic and marine resources sector along the direction of modernization so as to increase the off-shore fishing capacity; to attach importance to aquaculture and create conditions for this sector to play a role as one of the region's spearhead economic sectors; to strive to achieve an annual growth rate of 8.4% throughout the period from now to the year 2000 and 3% between 2001 and 2010; to step by step increase the value of processed products for export.

3. Regarding infrastructure development:

- To build the communications network (roads, railway, waterway and air links) so as to satisfy the passenger and cargo transport demands, create favorable conditions for investment, promote the development of commodity production and rural civilization.

- To concentrate with priorities on building some deep-water ports, to bring into full play the region's strength in maritime transport, especially those ports linking to the trans-Asian ways, international maritime routes and located in the positions of important significance to the national economy, security and defense.

- To step by step build and complete the irrigation network in service of production and daily life.

- To speed up the construction of urban infrastructure, first of all in core urban centers, especially water supply and drainage, power, urban mass transit, social infrastructure, environmental hygiene and to intensify the urban management work.

4. Development or tourism and services:

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- To develop the trade sector to meet the demand of the entire region and the Central Highlands; to build up regional trade centers in Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Nha Trang; to strongly develop other kinds of service like seaport, aviation, international telecommunications, finance, banking... services

5. Regarding social development:

- To continue renewing education and diversify educational forms, thus making education and training the cause of the entire population.

- To expand the television and radio network;

- To build and upgrade the network of healthcare centers in all communes, especially midland, mountainous and island communes; to attach importance to the healthcare work and well implement national programs on eradication of malaria, goiter and leprosy, on family planning. To strive to reduce the population growth rate by 0.1% each year from now to the year 2000 and by 0.05% each year afterwards. To prevent and fight social vices.

- To attach importance to the protection of the ecological environment in the socio-economic development process; Measures should be taken to prevent and combat pollution of the natural environment and the living environment in the development of industries, tourism and services.

- To effectively implement the programs on sedentarization, hunger elimination and poverty reduction, to support ethnic minority people and people in remote, deep-lying, border and island areas and narrow the gap between areas.

6. Regarding security and defense:

Security, defense and social order and safety should constitute a firm mainstay for economic development. To implement the open-door economic mechanism whilst firmly maintaining the national sovereignty, especially in border, coastal and island areas and areas of specially important strategic position.

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To materialize the master plan, the People's Committee of the provinces in the region should implement and creatively apply appropriate mechanisms and policies through comprehensive measures to mobilize to the maximum all local, domestic and overseas resources. Such measures must be concretized in the main socio-economic development orientations of the master plan and in long-term, medium-term and short-term plans.

To take effective measures to effect the economic restructuring along the direction of industrialization and modernization, taking the industrial sector, tourism, service and exploitation of aquatic and marine resources as the core.

The People's Committees of the provinces in the region shall, together with the ministries and branches at the central level, take initiative in studying and proposing to the Government mechanisms and policies suited to the specific conditions of each locality for development in line with the set orientations.

It is necessary to concretize measures so as to effectively use capital, human resources, science and technology to ensure the feasibility of the master plan.

Article 2.- The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People's Committees of the provinces in the coastal region of southern Central Vietnam shall have to draw up detailed five-year and annual plans to direct the fulfillment of the socio-economic objectives in each province and at the same time monitor and adjust each province's socio-economic development master plan to make it conform to this master plan as well as the national master plan.

In the course of implementation of this master plan, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches as well as the People's Committees of the provinces in the region in monitoring, summing up, evaluating and drawing experiences then propose to the Prime Minister to adjust and supplement in time the master plan to make it suitable to the actual situation.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People's Committees of Da Nang city and the provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa shall have to implement this Decision.

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