Binh Dinh (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhpaid a working visit to the south-central coastal province of Binh Dinh on February4, during which he inspected, and attended the inauguration ceremonies of someinfrastructure projects in the locality.

In the morning, PM Chinh listened to a report on a projectto upgrade and expand Phu Cat airport, which is being used for both civil andmilitary purposes.

According to a draft master plan on the system of airports andairfields nationwide in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, theMinistry of Transport proposed to increase the capacity of Phu Cat airport from2 million passengers per year as designed to 5 million by 2030 and 7 million by2050.

The PM requested the ministry to coordinatewith relevant agencies and Binh Dinh province to soon complete the Phu CatAirport planning dossier to be ready for approval right after the master plangets the PM’s green light.

PM Chinh also attended a ceremony to open to traffic the CatTien - My Thanh section of the national coastal route.

The 115km coastal road through Binh Dinh, which connectsthose of Quang Ngai and Phu Yen provinces, has a total investment of around 9trillion VND (383.8 million USD).  

The PM said that investment in upgrading and expanding the coastalroute is very necessary to effectively exploit and use marine resources and coastalareas, thus serving socio-economic development of coastal localities, improvingpeople's material and spiritual life, and strengthening defence and security inorder to firmly protect the country's sovereignty.

Chinh also visited, and talked with peoplein the social housing area in An Phu Thinh apartment building, Nhon Binh ward,Quy Nhon city.

Currently, Binh Dinh has 7,000 social housing apartments, andis striving to have 20,000 more by 2025.

Chinh expressed his belief that if every locality candevelop social housing like Binh Dinh, the country will complete the goal ofbuilding 1 million social housing apartments by 2030.

In the morning of the same day, PM Chinh visited the BecamexVSIP Binh Dinh Industrial, Urban, and Service Complex in Nhon Hoi economiczone, Canh Vinh commune, Van Canh district.

It is a cooperation project between the two provinces ofBinh Duong and Binh Dinh, implemented by the Becamex IDC Corporation (Binh Duong)and VSIP Group.

The construction of the project, which consists of 1,000 ha for the industrial park and425 ha for residential, commercial, service, and resettlement areas, has beenstarted since September 2020. Once completed, it is expected to attract about 2billion USD of investment in industrial production and create 120,000- 150,000jobs.

Secretary of the Party Committee of Binh Dinh province Ho Quoc Dung saidthat the project is implemented in an especially disadvantaged commune and thatthe provincial authorities have created the most favourable conditions for theproject, expecting that it will help attract investment and make breakthroughsto the province’s industrial production and services.

In the afternoon, Chinh attended the inauguration ceremonyof Dong Mit reservoir in An Lao district.

The reservoir has a basin of 160.3 square kilometres with acapacity of nearly 90 million cubic metre. It has three flood water releasing gates and its main dam is 378m long, and 62mhigh. Work on the reservoir project started in February 2019 with a total investment of 2.14trillion VND.

A total of 890 households and nine organisations had torelocate for site clearance.

The Dong Mit reservoir supplies water for irrigation of 6,742ha, and helps reduce flooding for downstream areas, improve the ecological environmentand prevent saline intrusion for downstream areas.

Speaking at the inauguration, PM Chinh asked Binh Dinhauthorities to direct relevant units to have an effective exploitationplan, study and develop economic and tourism activities to exploit thepotential and advantages of the reservoir.

Authorities must keep paying attention to ensuring stableproduction and life for affected households, he said.

He asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentto continue coordinating with localities in the south central region to studysolutions to ensure water security and sustainable socio-economic developmentfor the coastal provinces.

The PM then visited the Dong Mit reservoir resettlement area in the new An Dung commune which is now home to 480households of the H're ethnic group who moved to make room for the reservoirproject./.