Decision No. 15/2007/QĐ-TTg Approving the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province for the period 2006-2015 with orientations to 2020

Pursuant to …;

APPROVING THE OVERALL PLAN FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF BA RIA - VUNG TAU PROVINCE FOR THE 2006-2015 PERIOD WITH GUIDELINES UNTIL 2020

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;
Considering the proposals of the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province at the reports: No. 42/TTr-UBND dated January 5, 2006, No. 3175/TTr-UBND dated June 12, 2006; and the opinions of the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the letter No. 6849/BKH-TĐ&GSĐT dated September 15, 2006 regarding the approval of the overall plan for economic and social development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province for the 2006-2015 period with guidelines until 2020,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approve the overall plan for economic and social development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province for the 2006-2015 period with guidelines until 2020, including the following main contents:

1. Development viewpoint:

a) Continue to build a market economy oriented towards socialism, encourage and create equal conditions for all economic sectors to develop, creating an environment to attract investors within the province, domestically, and internationally to invest in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province; for the development of economic components, creating an environment to attract investors within the province, throughout the country, and from abroad to invest in Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu;

b) Actively integrate into the international and regional economy; strongly develop industries and fields with potential competitive advantages;

c) Linking economic growth with ensuring social equity and progress, improving material and spiritual living standards; c) Link economic growth with ensuring social equity and progress, improving the material and spiritual life of the people; focus on developing rural areas in a civilized and modern direction, gradually reducing disparities in the enjoyment of basic social services and income between rural and island areas and urban areas;

d) Promoting the education and training of human resources, considering human resources as a decisive factor in economic and social development;

d) Vigorously promote education and training of human resources, considering human resources as a decisive factor for economic and social development;

e) Implementing sustainable economic development based on protecting, regenerating, and enriching marine, forest, land, water resources, protecting the environment, particularly ecological and marine environments;

đ) Synchronize the development of production with the development of infrastructure in various regions;

2. Development objectives:

e) Implement sustainable economic development based on protecting, regenerating, and enriching marine, forest, land, water resources, and the environment, especially the ecological and marine environments;

b) Specific Objectives:

- Average annual GDP growth rate for the period 2006-2010 reaching 11.32% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 17.49%); for the period 2011-2015 reaching 11.8% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 16.58%); for the period 2016-2020 reaching 11.13% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 13.35%);

g) Closely combine economic development with national defense and security, building a whole-of-nation defense and people's security posture.

2. Development objectives

a) General objective: to build Ba Ria - Vung Tau into a province with a strong industrial economy, focusing on marine economy, with a national and international port system, becoming a center for industry, services, tourism, and seafood in the region and nationwide; significantly improve the living standards of the people; ensure solid national defense and security. - Average annual GDP growth rate for the 2006-2010 period reaches 11.32% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 17.49%); for the 2011-2015 period, it reaches 11.8% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 16.58%); for the 2016-2020 period, it reaches 11.13% (excluding oil and gas, it reaches 13.35%);

- Create a strong shift in the economic structure towards promoting rapid development of the service sector, particularly tourism, port, and trade services; develop advanced industries with high labor productivity, producing goods that meet quality standards; accelerate structural shifts within each economic sector to enhance efficiency, moving towards knowledge-based economic development. The economic structure by 2010: industry and construction account for 79.34%; services 18.74%; agriculture, forestry, and fisheries 1.92% (if excluding oil and gas, the corresponding economic structure is: 58.04%; 38.07%; 3.89%). By 2020, the economic structure will be: industry and construction accounting for 61.55%; services increasing to about 36.8%; agriculture, forestry, and fisheries 1.65% (if excluding oil and gas, the corresponding economic structure is: 53.23%; 44.77%; 2%);

- Per capita GDP by 2010 is expected to reach approximately $11,460, three times higher than in 2000; by 2020, it is expected to reach approximately $27,000, two and a half times higher than in 2010;

- Strongly develop foreign economic relations, striving to increase exports to $5.8 billion by 2010 (excluding oil and gas, it reaches $523 million). The average annual export growth rate (excluding oil and gas) for the 2006-2010 period is 12% per year and

9-10% per year during the 2011-2020 period; by 2020, exports (excluding oil and gas) will reach $1 billion;

- Mobilize investment capital for development during the 2006-2010 period reaching approximately $6.4 billion (at 1994 prices); during the 2011-2020 period, it will reach approximately $31.3 billion;

- Achieve fundamental and comprehensive changes in the education and training sector; focus on vocational training suitable for the needs of economic and social development of the province; increase the proportion of trained labor to over 50% by 2010 and over 80% by 2020; create job opportunities for workers;

- By 2010, the natural population growth rate remains around 1%, with a population size of about 1.026 million people, and the urban population ratio is 57.3%. By 2020, stabilize the population size at about 1.18 million people, with the urban population ratio at 69.06%;

- Develop cultural and information activities, preserve, restore, and promote the value of historical and cultural relics; construct cultural facilities according to planning; diverse and high-quality physical culture and sports; improve the quality of health care services for the people; by 2010, the number of hospital beds per ten thousand people will reach 25 beds, continue to increase to 28 beds by 2015 and 30 beds by 2020. Effectively implement socialization in the fields of culture, healthcare, and education;:

- Develop infrastructure in rural areas to form a developed, civilized, and modern rural area close to urban life. By 2010, ensure that 98% of households have access to electricity and clean water; by 2020, achieve 100% of rural households having access to electricity and clean water;

Develop key industries based on leveraging the potential strengths of the Province: continue to vigorously promote oil exploration activities to increase production volume, develop service industries supporting oil and gas and industries using gas as raw material and fuel; shipbuilding industries, port service industries serving marine transportation activities. Vigorously process seafood for export and domestic consumption, paying attention to developing construction materials production industries from local raw material sources;

- Focus investment to complete infrastructure in nine existing industrial zones to enhance effectiveness. Establish Kim Dinh Industrial Zone with 100 hectares and the Province's High-Tech Zone in Ba Ria City. When these industrial zones reach a fill rate of over 60%, invest in developing additional industrial zones: Long Huong (400 hectares), Long Son (500-600 hectares), Ben Dinh Port and Oil Service Zone (100 hectares);

- Orient each district, town, and city to invest in developing several clusters of small and medium-sized industries and handicrafts to create conditions for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, serve agricultural and fisheries industries, and rural economic development, solving employment for local labor;

- Develop and distribute industrial zones and clusters based on rational resource utilization, labor, and environmental requirements;

- Mobilize various forms of capital investment from domestic and foreign economic sectors to develop infrastructure within the boundaries of industrial zones and clusters; simultaneously, state budget funds must be balanced to ensure synchronized technical infrastructure development outside the boundaries and the development of a synchronized social infrastructure system;

b) Develop service industries:

- Develop service industries at a fast pace and high quality, ensuring comprehensive and sustainable development;

- Focus investment in developing tourism with key types being: eco-tourism in forests, seas, and islands, historical revolutionary site tours, and resort tourism. Develop distinctive tourism products in Vung Tau and Con Dao to leverage potential strengths to facilitate rapid and sustainable growth;

- Develop trade towards forming commercial centers in urban areas, clusters in rural areas, and market systems. Organize advanced trading services suitable to local conditions. Leverage advantages of agricultural and fishery products to boost exports; simultaneously, develop high-tech industrial zones to expand export items from manufacturing industries, increasing export turnover. The export growth rate (excluding oil and gas) reaches 12% annually during the period 2006-2010 and 9-10% annually during the period 2011-2020; by 2010, exports (excluding oil and gas) will reach 523 million USD and by 2020 exceed 1 billion USD;

- Leverage the advantage of the maritime port system, develop oil and gas services, maritime services, and intensify waterway transport including inland waterways and sea transport. Develop international maritime services at ports in Thi Vai, Vung Tau, and Con Dao regions. Strive to reduce service costs, enhancing the competitiveness of sea transport services;

- Develop credit activities linked to serving economic structure transformation to contribute to achieving the provincial socio-economic development goals. Establish and manage the operations of funds such as: Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund, Venture Capital Fund, Social Welfare Fund. Develop financial business, brokerage, insurance activities, form financial companies. Develop a modern infrastructure system meeting international standards to establish a financial center in Vung Tau City after 2010;

c) Develop agriculture, forestry, and fisheries:

- Build a sustainable commodity-based agricultural foundation closely tied to developing rural areas with comprehensive economic, cultural, and social development. Construct an agricultural base oriented towards urban ecology, focusing on building several high-tech agricultural zones, applying biotechnology with the goal of increasing yield value and income per unit area. Implement industrialization and modernization of rural areas, linking agricultural development with processing industry;

- Vigorously transform internal agricultural structures towards developing long-term cash crops for export, developing vegetable and fruit production, and livestock farming;

- Continue to invest in completing irrigation systems, especially finishing the Ray River reservoir; reinforce 100% of canal systems, ensuring proactive irrigation, salinity prevention, and flood control;

- Form concentrated agricultural production areas specialized in certain fields;

- Develop intensive livestock farming towards industrialization and modernization, continuously expanding the scale of livestock and poultry with high quality;

- Convert part of forest land to non-agricultural purposes to create land funds for developing industrial zones, ports, tourism services, and some urban and residential areas. Conversion of forest land to other purposes must be carried out based on land use planning and forestry development planning. For forest land converted to tourism development purposes, only allow investment in eco-tourism projects, ensuring the full utilization of potential strengths without changing the nature of the forest; simultaneously, continue to restore the forest to develop tourism;

- Develop fisheries towards efficient distant-water fishing operations, focusing on harvesting high-value marine species, organizing proper post-harvest seafood preservation to enhance product value; protect marine resources, strictly prohibit destructive fishing methods. Adjust the structure of fishing industries to suit fishing grounds and seasonal characteristics. Promote aquaculture development in accordance with current water body features. Establish aquaculture zones linked with mangrove forest protection, agricultural production, irrigation, and ecological conservation. Encourage the development of large-capacity vessels, limit and eventually prohibit the construction of small-capacity vessels under 90 horsepower, gradually replace vessel hulls with new, durable, and wood-saving materials.

d) Develop healthcare, education and training, culture-information, and sports sectors:

- Invest in material infrastructure and equipment for primary healthcare facilities to implement technical tiering; by 2010, district hospitals should meet tertiary hospital standards, and all health stations should reach national health standards. After 2010, continue upgrading to higher standards. Construct high-quality hospitals and medical centers; the high-quality hospitals and health centers;

- Develop preschool education, maintain universal primary and junior secondary school achievements, and achieve universal senior secondary school standards throughout the province by 2010. Increase the proportion of trained labor to 50% by 2010 and over 80% by 2020. Vigorously promote socialization to develop educational and training institutions;

- Plan and modernize specialized and vocational education institutions within the province. Layout planning for the construction of a high-quality vocational training center at the provincial level. Vigorously promote socialization, mobilize various sources of capital to develop specialized and vocational education institutions within the province; implement joint training activities with domestic and international universities, specialized secondary schools, and vocational schools to organize training classes directly in the province to utilize existing facilities for educational and training development. Increase the proportion of trained labor to 50% by 2010 and over 80% by 2020;

- Develop cultural-information harmoniously between information dissemination tasks and meeting people's cultural enjoyment needs. Effectively carry out the "All-People Solidarity Cultural Life Building Movement," construct grassroots cultural infrastructure according to planning. Develop cultural-information activities, preserve and promote traditional values. Improve the material infrastructure system. Develop mass physical culture and sports movements; maintain strengths in key sports disciplines such as Taekwondo and beach volleyball;

đ) Science and technology:

- Plan the development of science and technology directly serving production (enterprise and production base science and technology); focusing on planning the construction of technical infrastructure for science and technology directly serving production. There must be key programs and projects, solutions, and specific tasks to help relevant departments and localities organize implementation according to a timeline so that science and technology can quickly become a direct productive force;

- Organize the construction and early operation of provincial-level technology parks (also called industrial incubation zones, technology incubation zones, enterprise incubation zones, high-tech agriculture zones, high-tech zones...), becoming pillars of the technical infrastructure system for science and technology directly serving production;

- Build mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of science and technology; including mechanisms and policies to encourage the development of technology parks, technological products, technological innovation, and the application of scientific and technological progress. In particular, prioritize encouraging enterprises to develop science and technology directly serving production;

e) National defense and security: economic and social development must be closely linked with ensuring national defense and security in each locality, especially coastal and island areas. Build a comprehensive people's defense and public security system, ensuring political stability and social safety. Strengthen reserve forces and solid defensive regions. Build and consolidate residential areas on islands, develop habitable islands, contributing to maintaining national maritime and island sovereignty;

4. Develop the infrastructure system: Focus investment ahead on developing infrastructure:

- Develop port systems according to the planning of group 5 and group 8 sea ports. Conduct dredging, channel improvement, and build sea and inland waterway port systems to develop maritime and river transport;

- Invest in important road trunk routes; construct the Vung Tau - Ho Chi Minh City expressway; upgrade and expand National Highway 51. Complete the provincial road transportation system. Continue new investments, upgrades, and asphalt paving of rural roads; improve, upgrade, and construct new urban transportation systems, particularly prioritizing new urban transportation systems in Phu My;

- During the 2006-2010 period, continue upgrading Ca Ong airport to accommodate 150-seat aircraft. For the 2011-2020 period, construct Vung Tau airport and establish an air service center at Go Gang;

- Initiate research on constructing Bien Hoa - Vung Tau railway line connected to industrial zones and ports, aiming to start construction during the 2011-2020 period;

- Enhance and modernize the telecommunications system;

- Continue expanding existing water supply plants, while building new water supply systems. Expand urban water supply systems. Construct new water supply systems in villages without existing ones, and upgrade previously constructed systems;

- Concentrate investment on the drainage system in urban areas, construct separate stormwater and wastewater collection systems, and build wastewater treatment plants meeting national standards. Centralized industrial zones need to establish separate treatment facilities according to their specific characteristics. Industrial wastewater and hospital wastewater must be treated to meet standard B before being discharged into the common drainage system (underground sewers, canals, ditches, rivers, etc.).

- Construct additional transmission grids at 110 KV, 35 KV; distribution grids at 15 KV, and ensure power source stations are built to meet electricity supply demands.

5. Environmental management, aiming for sustainable development:

- Build waste treatment plants for household and industrial waste, and wastewater treatment stations. Select clean technologies and specify regulations on importing technology and equipment.

- Relocate seafood processing factories in urban and residential areas to planned zones.

- Strengthen inspection and supervision of discharges from industrial production and tourism establishments.

- Zoning the environment to apply appropriate measures.

- Monitor wastewater discharge, waste, and oil from ships in the waters of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu province; supervise activities that may cause environmental impacts on offshore oil platforms.

6. Organization of the provincial territorial space:

Organize the central urban cluster and surrounding urban points. Development space will spread out from the central urban cluster of Vũng Tàu - Bà Rịa towards the northeast along major national highways within the province, namely National Highways 51, 55, and 56. Develop the coastal area with a mixed pattern of ecological tourism and tourist towns. Develop service administrative and agricultural, forestry towns in market town form: forestry according to urban point forms:

a) City of Vũng Tàu: the largest city, reaching the standard of a second-class city with functions including tourism center, oil services, financial and banking services, port economy; during the period 2010-2020, develop a new urban area in Long Sơn.

b) New urban area of Phú Mỹ: will reach the standard of a fourth-class city by 2010 and third-class by 2015. This is an industrial and port city.

c) City of Bà Rịa: the provincial administrative center; simultaneously, the largest intra-provincial trade and commerce center. Currently a fourth-class city, to be upgraded to a third-class city by 2010.

d) In Long Điền, continue developing two towns: Long Điền as the district center; Long Hải town developing as a new tourist town.

đ) In Đất Đỏ, develop two towns: Đất Đỏ town as the district center and Phước Hải town as a tourist town.

e) In Châu Đức, besides Ngãi Giao town as the district center, develop Kim Long town.

g) In Xuyên Mộc, besides Phước Bửu town currently the district center, develop Hòa Bình, Bình Châu, and Hồ Tràm towns.

h) Côn Đảo will develop into a high-quality economic and tourist service area; by 2010, form Côn Sơn, Bến Đầm, and Cỏ Ống towns with a population of about 14,000 people. By 2020, form a modern city in Côn Đảo, the entire island as a large city.

7. Orientation for important programs and projects to invest in:

a) Complete the provincial industrial infrastructure system at the leading development level nationwide, on par with regional standards.

b) Continue investing in upgrading the modern road system according to international standards.

c) Invest in upgrading the technical infrastructure of urban areas according to civilized and modern standards; prioritizing the construction of the new urban infrastructure of Phú Mỹ.

d) Basically complete the rural transportation network to form civilized and modern residential points.

đ) Invest in forming and stabilizing the scale of the maritime port system, air ports, creating conditions for the development of transport services for the Southern Key Economic Region.

e) Implement investment in developing the postal and telecommunications system with modern technology and standards on par with regional levels.

g) Call for and promote investment in developing key projects in the service sector, particularly tourism services.

h) Build and implement an investment program to develop coastal tourism areas.

i) Form investment projects to develop eastern and southeastern tourism areas of the province, combining the development of biological conservation areas, tourism activities combined with agricultural and forestry development, protecting and cleaning the environment. k) Invest in forming commercial and financial service centers applying modern technology.

l) Call for and promote large-scale investment projects in the industrial sector.

m) Continue investing in completing the infrastructure of established industrial zones; call for investment in developing some new industrial zones and stabilizing the network of industrial zones after 2010.

n) Call for and promote investment projects in the development of oil and gas extraction and processing industries, transport service industries, especially marine transport in designated industrial zones.

o) Form investment programs to develop technical infrastructure and key projects in social development fields:

+ Build and implement programs to modernize educational and training institutions; scientific research and technology. Mobilize internal resources to implement socialization of education and training activities.

+ Build and implement programs to modernize social cultural institutions.

+ Build and implement programs to modernize health care institutions and improve health care.

8. Some general policies and solutions for implementing planning

a) Mobilize investment capital for development reaching 6.4 billion USD in the period 2006-2010 and 31.3 billion USD in the period 2011-2020 (at 1994 prices).:

b) Improve the quality of human resources, both as a goal and a driving force for socio-economic development of the province and the implementation of the human resource strategy; focus policies to solve relations comprehensively on all three aspects: education and training of people; utilization and creation of employment.

b) Improving the quality of human resources is both a goal and a driving force for economic and social development of the province and implementing the human resource strategy; focusing policies to comprehensively address relations on all three aspects: education and training of people; employment and job creation;

c) Focus on developing science and technology together with capital investment solutions and human resource solutions to create a basic set of solutions for effectively mobilizing and utilizing resources to implement the provincial socio-economic planning;

d) Implement macro-management measures with the construction of comprehensive policies: focused and prioritized development policies, market policies, policies for the development of a multi-sector economy;

đ) Establish mechanisms and policies appropriate to address social issues such as housing and employment for people who need to be relocated to make way for important projects; preferential policies for the poor;

e) Encourage various economic sectors to invest in development, provide incentives for the application of advanced science and technology to improve the quality of growth and transform the economic structure towards industrialization and modernization;

g) Strengthen management and organization of implementation to gradually integrate the planning into life, including: disseminating and mobilizing the public's participation in implementing the plan; detailing the contents of the plan into agendas and work programs of grassroots party committees and administrative bodies; regularly updating the contents of the plan; detailing the overall socio-economic development plan of the province into sectoral development plans, urban and rural construction plans, and overall socio-economic development plans for districts, towns, and cities; in five-year and annual plans. Strengthen inspection and supervision of plan implementation: After approval, the plan must become a legal document serving as the basis for development activities within the province; the Party organizations, People's Councils, People's Committees at all levels, mass organizations, and the entire population shall organize inspections and supervision of plan implementation.

Article 2. The approved planning document is a "framework" containing major development goals, mechanisms, policies, and organizational implementation measures; serving as the basis for formulating, approving, and implementing specialized plans (construction planning, land use planning, and other specialized plans), and investment projects within the province according to regulations.

Article 3. The People's Committee of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province is tasked, based on the targets, tasks, and development directions of the province stated in the approved planning report, to coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to direct the formulation, approval, and implementation according to regulations:

- Strategic environmental impact assessment report.

- Urban system development planning and residential areas, general construction planning, land use planning, industry and sector development planning, key product development planning to ensure comprehensive and synchronized development.

- Study and develop or submit to competent state authorities for issuance certain mechanisms and policies (if beyond their authority) suitable for the requirements of the province at each stage to attract and mobilize resources to implement the plan.

Article 4. Relevant ministries and agencies within their functions, duties, and powers have the responsibility to support the People's Committee of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province in researching and formulating the above-mentioned plans; study and develop and submit to competent state authorities for issuance certain mechanisms and policies suitable for the requirements of socio-economic development of the province at each stage to effectively mobilize and utilize resources, encourage and attract investment... to ensure the achievement of the targets, tasks, and development directions of the province stated in the planning report. Accelerate investment and implementation of projects and works of regional scale and importance to the province's development that have been decided to be invested. Study and consider adjustments and supplements to sectoral development plans and investment plans for related projects proposed in the planning report.

Article 5. This Decision takes effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 6. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province, Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to Ministries, Heads of Government Agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees of centrally governed cities and provinces are responsible for implementing this Decision./.