Quang Ninh (VNA) – The private economic sector has played animportant role in creating a facelift to the infrastructure development in thenorthern coastal province of Quang Ninh over the recent past.

Large-scale projects spring localdevelopment

According to Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee Nguyen Duc Long, it would take the province 10 years to complete itscomprehensive and modern infrastructure if Quang Ninh only relied on Stateallocation and local budget. However, the province has made a quantum leap withvarious measures taken to lure private investment.

Long said thanks to concerted efforts to improve local business climate, theprovince secured 36 trillion VND (1.55 billion USD) during 2015-2018 to developtransport projects, three quarters of which were mobilised from the privatesector.
A line-up of investors have come to the province tobuild key transport projects under build-transfer (BT), build-operate-transfer(BOT), and public-private partnership (PPP) contracts.

A 474.4-million-USD highway is being constructed under a BOT and PPP contractby the joint venture of Long Van Infrastructure Investment and Development Co.,Ltd, Van Don Sun JSC and Cong Thanh Transportation and ConstructionCorporation. The 80.2km-long highway is designed to have four lanes, andexpected to shorten travel time from Van Don to Mong Cai from two hours tonearly one hour upon completion in 2021.

The other three key transport projects in the locality are Ha Long – Cam Phacoastal road and an undersea tunnel through Cua Luc Bay (the gateway to Ha LongBay) implemented under BT contracts.

Particularly, the Van Don International Airport, invested at a total cost ofnearly 7.5 trillion VND, has stayed in the limelight of the localinfrastructure system. This is the very first airport project in Vietnam toapply the BOT investment model.

The presence of Van Don airport which was officially put into operation in December2018 is hoped to help Quang Ninh achieve its target of welcoming 15-16 milliontourists, including 7 million foreigners, by 2020 and 30 million arrivals,including 15 million foreigners, by 2030.

In his remarks at the inauguration ceremony for Van Don airport, Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the local efforts to develop such an importanttransport work, saying Quang Ninh province was successful in infrastructuredevelopment in the context of limited capital.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung affirmed at a conference heldby the Ministry of Transport that other localities should follow Quang Ninhprovince, an excellent example of making breakthroughs in infrastructuredevelopment.

In addition, Quang Ninh province has adopted various incentives to attract biginvestors like VinGroup, Sun Group, FLC Group, BIM Group and Tuan Chau, whohave developed a wide range of high-class resort, shopping and entertainmentcomplexes in Ha Long, Cam Pha, Uong Bi, Van Don, Co To and Mong Cai.

Infrastructure – catalyst for economicand tourism development

Well-developed infrastructure has served as acatalyst to boost economic and tourism development in Quang Ninh province.

The locality enjoyed 11.9 percent in economic growth in the first nine monthsof the year, surpassing set target for the whole year and 0.8 percent higherthan the same time in 2018.

As business climate and competitive capacity have been improved a lot, theprovince had 1,700 newly-established firms with a total registered capital of10 trillion VND during January-September.

Also in the period, the province welcomed 11.3 million visitors, as compared to12 million recorded for the whole of 2018. Earnings from tourism services wereestimated to surged 29 percent year on year.

As of September 10, Van Don International Airport hosted a total of 1,364flights transporting nearly 183,000 domestic and foreign passengers, and604,000 tonnes of cargo.

The airport has been connected to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, the Republic ofKorea’s Seoul, and China’s Hunan and Shenzen. In the coming time, more flightswill be operated between Van Don and China’s Hainan, Kunming, Nanning,Zhengzhou and Guangzhou, Japan and Thailand, as well as many domesticlocations.

Quang Ninh and its strategic partners are working to accelerate the constructionof key projects to complete local tourism panorama, aiming to develop theprovince into one of the four national tourism hubs. The move will also helpVietnam to realise its target of welcoming 20 million international visitors by2020./.