DECISION

RATIFYING THE 1996-2010 OVERALL PLANNING FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN CENTRAL VIETNAM

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
At the proposals of the Minister of Construction in Report No.10/BXD-KTQH of June 5, 1997 and of the Chairman of the State Council for Evaluation of Investment Projects in Document No.4524/HDTD of July 25, 1997;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the overall planning for socio-economic development of northern Central Vietnam encompassing Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue provinces in the 1996-2000 period with the following contents:

I. GENERAL ORIENTATION:

The socio-economic development of northern Central Vietnam shall be undertaken along the following orientation:

- Efficiently exploiting the local advantages in natural resources and minerals (iron, tin, kaolin, mineral oil...), water resources for irrigation and hydro-electricity generation, marine and forest resources and tourist and service potentials in order to create budget revenues for each locality, raise the living standards of the people in the region.

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- Ensuring the social justice, creating jobs for laborers, raising the intellectual level of the people, preserving and promoting the cultural traditions of various ethnicities.

- Building the towns and townships of Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Hue, Ha Tinh, Dong Hoi and Dong Ha into economic, cultural, scientific and technical centers serving as cores for the rural development.

- Protecting ecological environment, protecting forests and regreening unused land, bare hills and sand dunes along the coast in order to diminish the harms done by natural disasters including storms and floods.

- Combining the socio-economic development with the assurance of political security, the consolidation of national defense, and the maintenance of social order and safety in coastal areas, islands and highland and border areas.

II. PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES:

1. Economically:

To achieve the per-capita GDP of about 275 USD by the year 2000 and about 880 USD by the year 2010. To attain an average annual economic growth rate of 13.1% for the 1996-2000 period and 14.5% for the period after the year 2000. To build an economic structure with 15.2% for industry, 45% for services, 27.5% for agriculture, forestry and fishery, and 12.3% for construction by the year 2000, and 25.4%, 48%, 9.9% and 16.7% for industry, services, agriculture-forestry-fishery and construction respectively, by the year 2010. To increase the annual export value by 20-25% for the 1996-2010 period. To increase the rate of investment accumulation from the GDP up to above 12% by the year 2000 and above 22% by the year 2010; to minimize the number of poor households.

2. Socially:

To cut the annual population growth rate down to 2.06% by the year 2000 and 1.6% by the year 2010. To develop the human resources in terms of physical strength, educational level, vocational training, professional and managerial skills... To build the cultural families in association with the development of villages or hamlets, the urban civilization and the elimination of the social evils. To establish a number of regional cultural centers, combine the tourist activities with the efficient exploitation of historical relics. To establish and consolidate the medical network from the provincial to district and commune levels; to renovate and upgrade the existing medical establishments.

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To quickly restore the forest ecological system, regreen the unused land, bare hills and coastal sand dunes and plant protective forests. To protect and develop the specious and rare animal and plant species. To keep the environment hygienic and clean, ensure the sufficient supply of clean water for daily life, prevent sea water from being polluted. To reduce noise, dispose waste matters and dust in industrial and urban areas. To diminish sand storms and sinking, land erosion and slide and alluvial accumulation at river mouths.

4. On the national security and defense:

To strengthen the people�s armed forces, especially in islands and border highland areas. To closely combine two strategic tasks of national construction and defense. To combine the national defense and security with the economic development. To firmly maintain the political security and the social order and safety.

III. THE BRANCH DEVELOPMENT TASKS

1. On the infrastructure development:

To build a land-road network with a trans-regional highways and cross-region roads favorable for the development of the mountainous areas and border highlands. To consolidate and upgrade the existing sea-ports, study and prepare conditions for the establishment of deep-water ports when there is a demand for goods exchange. To renovate and upgrade the existing airports.

To renovate and build water works: gradually modernizing the irrigation system to ensure the irrigation and drainage in service of agricultural production.

To invest in the construction of water plants to ensure the supply of water for daily life in the industrial and urban centers. To build effective anti-flood and storm projects in order to minimize the region�s disadvantages in natural conditions.

On the development of electricity grid: To combine the development of the national electricity grid with the regional hydro-electricity system and electricity grid. To invest in the construction of a number of hydro-electricity power plants such as Rao Quan and Ban Mai. To strive to attain the annual increase of 11.8% in the region�s commercial electricity output.

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2. Industrially:

To develop the industries of construction materials production (largely cement and construction stones), mining, metallurgy and chemical (petro-chemical and sodium production) and agricultural, forest and sea products processing. To combine the modern technology with traditional technology. To invest modern equipment in some spear-head branches. To upgrade and synchronize the existing industrial zones such as: Bim Son, Thanh Hoa, Phu Quy, Vinh, Cua Lo, Dong Hoi, Dong Ha and Hue. At the same time to establish new enterprises and industrial zones of Nghi Son, Hoang Mai, Thach Khe, Vung Ang...

3. On agriculture, forestry and fishery:

In agriculture: To quickly transform the agricultural structure to make it suitable to production conditions in each area under the market mechanism. To develop intensive farming and crop-multiplication. To invest in the expansion of areas under industrial or food crops, develop husbandry and build specialized production areas associated with the processing industry.

In forestry: To protect, mark off and preserve head-waters forests, natural forests, protective forests and special-use forests. To step up the afforestation, adopt the form of land assignment, forest assignment and regreen unused land and bare hills.

In fishery: To step up the aquaculture and the aquatic product exploitation and processing. To encourage off-shore fishing, develop aquaculture in coastal swamps and lagoons in order to increase products for export.

4. On trade and tourism:

To build some big department stores in urban and industrial centers in Thanh Hoa, Vinh and Hue. To develop export and import and goods transit activities, develop tourism and establish trade and tourist centers of Sam Son, Cua Lo - Vinh, Nam Dan, Dong Hoi - Phong Nha, Dong Ha - Lao Bao, Hue, Lang Co, Bach Ma - Canh Duong and the vicinities. To develop branches in service of tourism, such as: sea ports, aviation, banking, financial, post and telecommunications services.

5. On culture, education, training and medical services:

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To enhance the technical and material bases, set up a number of cultural and sport centers in the region in combination with tourist activities and efficient exploitation of historical relics.

To develop the radio and television network.

To renovate and upgrade the existing medical establishments, expand and develop the medical network from the provincial to grassroots levels. To supply more medical personnel, equipment and instruments for medical establishments, enabling them to better provide medical examination and treatment for the people.

IV. THE MAIN SOLUTIONS:

To implement this planning, the People�s Committees of the localities in northern Central Vietnam shall have to adopt and creatively apply coordinated measures in respect of mechanism and policy in order to fully mobilize all local resources as well as domestic and foreign resources. The provinces shall have to express and concretize the main socio-economic development orientation of the planning into their long-, medium- and short-term plans for management.

The localities in the region shall, together with the ministries and branches at the central level, study and propose to the Government specific mechanisms and policies for the development along the set orientation. Priority must be given to the development of industries, infrastructure construction, agriculture, forestry, fishery, education, the raising of intellectual level of the people.

It is necessary to specify the solutions in respects of capital, human resources, science, technology and environment through mechanism and policies suitable to each locality.

Article 2.- The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People�s Committees of the provinces in northern Central Vietnam shall have to draw up their specific five-year and annual plans which serve as basis for organizing and directing the implementation of their socio-economic development objectives.

The Presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces in northern Central Vietnam shall have to closely coordinate with the ministries and branches at the central level in drawing up and organizing the implementation of programs and projects.

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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, the presidents of the People�s Committees of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien - Hue provinces shall have to implement this Decision.

THE PRIME MINISTER




Vo Van Kiet