Decision No. 184/1998/QĐ-TTg on approving the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of the Central Highlands Region from now until 2010

DECISION

Regarding the approval of the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of the Central Highlands Region
period from now to 2010

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Circular No. 1896 NN-KH/TTr dated May 7, 1998, and that of the Chairman of the State Investment Project Appraisal Council in Circular No. 3408/HĐTĐ dated May 20, 1998, 

DECISION:

Article 1. Approving the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of the Central Highlands Region (comprising four provinces: Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Lam Dong) for the period from now to 2010 with the following main contents:

I. MAIN DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES:

1. On economy:

- Striving to achieve an average annual GDP growth rate of 7 to 8% per year from now until 2000, and 8 to 9% per year during the period 2001-2010. The average GDP per capita will reach 260 USD by 2000 and 600 to 900 USD by 2010.

- Gradually shifting the economic structure, by 2010: Industry and construction will account for 35 to 40%, agriculture and forestry will account for 25 to 30%, tourism and services will account for 30 to 35%.

- Striving to achieve a savings ratio from GDP of 10 to 11% during the period from now until 2000, and 14 to 15% during the period 2001-2010.

- Implementing modernization of equipment and technology for existing facilities, equipping advanced technology for new construction sites, especially those serving the processing of agricultural and forest products to create competitive products on the market and aimed at export.

- Strengthening investment to protect and develop forests, striving to increase the forest coverage rate to 65-70% by 2010.

- Strengthening investment in infrastructure construction, prioritizing solutions to water supply, transportation, electricity, school building, health clinics, communication, radio, and television.

2. Social and environmental.

- Effectively implementing the program of fixed farming and settlement, gradually planning and reasonably arranging local residents and people moving from other regions to the Central Highlands, stabilizing the livelihoods of ethnic groups.

- Creating jobs, expanding the number of working-age population with employment, striving to increase the labor force in industry, small-scale industry, construction, and services. Creating conditions for ethnic groups to access new production methods and technologies.

- Striving to eliminate hunger by 2000, gradually reducing poverty, ensuring basic needs for food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and healthcare to improve the living standards of ethnic groups. Promoting civilized lifestyles, preserving and promoting the cultural identity of ethnic groups.

- Developing the economy in conjunction with protecting and improving the ecological environment, protecting and developing forests, protecting and maintaining water sources, increasing soil fertility, protecting and developing biodiversity, rare animal and plant species.

Paying special attention to improving living conditions for ethnic groups in remote and border areas. Building a fair and civilized society, a healthy community, eliminating bad customs and social evils.

3. On national security and defense.

Implementing the strategy of combining economic development with strengthening national security and defense, maintaining social order and safety, and safeguarding national sovereignty. Particularly focusing on strategic defense priorities and key logistical bases of the region and the country.

II. MAIN DEVELOPMENT TASKS:

1. On agriculture and forestry:

- Striving to achieve an annual growth rate of the agriculture and forestry sector of about 6% during the period from now until 2000, and about 7% during the period from 2001 to 2010.

- Developing agriculture towards commercial production, leveraging existing advantages and potential, suitable to the natural conditions of the region. Emphasizing the preservation of landscape and environmental protection, and sustainable development.

- Practicing intensive and effective investment, combining agriculture with forestry and industrial processing, gradually modernizing key stages to promote production development to meet production, living needs, and exports.

- Gradually expanding the area according to the plan for planting coffee, rubber, cashew, pepper, tea, fruit trees, medicinal plants, and short-cycle industrial crops. Expanding corn cultivation areas and intensifying corn production; limiting and eventually eliminating the practice of deforestation for swidden fields. Emphasizing the rational use of land and changes in land fund structure towards diversification of products; expanding specialized crop areas to produce high-quality agricultural products.

- Developing livestock and poultry breeding, mainly through household breeding to provide raw materials such as meat, milk, leather... for processing industries.

Developing forestry towards enhancing conservation, improvement, and restoration of existing natural forests, particularly headwater forests, special-use forests, protective forests; accelerating afforestation efforts, gradually restoring forest areas to increase coverage. Implementing land allocation and forest management contracts to combine garden cultivation and agricultural and forestry production. Reasonably exploiting forest resources in conjunction with the fixed farming and settlement program, promoting scattered tree planting, emphasizing the benefits of environmental protection combined with forest product utilization.

2. Regarding industry:

- Emphasizing the development of industries using local raw materials such as coffee processing, rubber processing, sugar cane processing, food industry, building materials, paper, ceramics... Gradually developing repair and maintenance machinery industries, encouraging the development of small-scale industries in both urban and rural areas.

- Gradually deepening investment, modernizing equipment, particularly in the processing industry of specialized crop areas and forestry products to create a shift in the economic structure of the region. Linking industry with agriculture and forestry to promote production development.

- Encouraging domestic and foreign investment. Preparing necessary conditions for the formation of concentrated industrial zones to leverage the advantages and potential of the Central Highlands region.

- Concentrating on developing industry with appropriate scale, prioritizing the application of technology requiring less capital but creating many job opportunities for workers and contributing to the industrialization of rural areas. Applying scientific and technological progress to agricultural and forestry production.

3. Developing trade, tourism, and services:

The development of the trade, tourism, and service sectors creates momentum to promote regional economic growth, thereby leveraging advantages and achieving set socio-economic goals. Strive for a growth rate of 10-15% per year on average during the period from now until 2010 in trade, tourism, and services.

- Develop a diverse business network suitable for the Central Highlands region, encouraging all economic sectors to participate in circulation to create impetus for production development. Gradually build centralized trading centers in cities and towns for commodity exchange and product introduction to other regions and countries such as Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.

- Form and develop market networks to expand services and commodity exchange. Focus on guiding, organizing, and managing well the linked and private commercial networks to supply and purchase goods for ethnic minorities and people in difficult areas.

- Exploit geographical, climatic, scenic environmental advantages to develop existing tourism infrastructure. Simultaneously, construct new tourist centers in Dalat, Suoi Vang, Lac Thien, Buon Ma Thuot, etc., forming internal regional tourism routes connected with key economic zones and inter-regional tourism: Southeastern Region, Central Coast, Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau... Develop comprehensive infrastructure, technical facilities, exploit while restoring and preserving nature, maintaining and developing tourism resources, promoting national cultural identity. Aim towards a strategy for international tourism development in the future.

- Shift the structure of the trade, tourism, and service sector towards prioritizing Tourism, Telecommunications, Finance, Technology Transfer... Encourage all economic sectors to participate in these activities.

4. Develop infrastructure and urban areas;

- Construct and rationally distribute medium and small-sized cities serving as economic, cultural, and service centers of the region, in line with the national urban network formed and developed according to the Overall Urban Development Plan of Vietnam until 2020.

- Develop urban networks in conjunction with upgrading transportation routes and the formation of commodity production areas. Upgrade and gradually complete the road transport system of provinces in the region.

- Develop road, air transport networks according to planning. Pay special attention to rural transportation networks, especially remote, border areas, creating conditions for difficult regions, former resistance bases, and strategically important areas. Strive to have all communes connected to the commune center by motorable roads by 2010.

- Emphasize the construction of irrigation systems, particularly hydroelectric dams, water storage dams, and canal networks in concentrated production areas. Combine transportation development with completing irrigation systems, bridges, culverts, and production and living service facilities.

- Upgrade and construct new water supply and drainage systems for cities and industrial zones; focus on addressing clean water needs for rural residents. Emphasize the protection and exploitation of water sources.

- Gradually implement electrification in the Central Highlands, striving for 60% of the population to have access to electricity by 2000 and 80% by 2010. In the short term, invest in expanding the power grid to concentrated residential areas, regions with potential for agricultural and forestry development to increase commodity rates. Focus on developing small stations for difficult, remote, and former resistance base areas and commune centers.

- Build and upgrade educational institutions, health stations, hospitals, cultural activity centers, entertainment venues to meet social needs.

- Modernize the postal and telecommunications network towards synchronization, automation, digitalization to meet domestic information requirements and international communication.

5. Education, Science, Culture, Health, and Social Affairs:

- Emphasize the development of the education and training system, gradually improving the quality and effectiveness of educational work to raise public awareness, train local human resources to meet production development and improve living standards. Strive for all children of school age to attend school, universal primary education by 2000. Expand boarding and semi-boarding schools for children of ethnic minorities.

- Study and apply advanced science and technology as a foundation and driving force for regional socio-economic development, especially quickly introducing science and technology into production and daily life to promote agricultural and forestry development.

- Emphasize the effectiveness of cultural work, radio and television broadcasting, and sports activities. Preserve and promote traditional and ethnic cultural values worthy of their role as a developmental driving force. Gradually eliminate superstitious customs and develop mass and folk cultural forms, providing conditions for all social strata to enjoy artistic culture.

- Renovate and construct new healthcare facilities; consolidate and develop commune health stations, multi-specialty clinics, hospitals, etc., to serve initial health care, disease prevention, and medical treatment for the people. Strive to gradually eliminate social diseases. Promote population education, family planning, and environmental hygiene education. Gradually socialize healthcare, improving the quality of service for ethnic groups.

- Strive to complete settlement and land allocation, especially in remote, mountainous, revolutionary base, and border areas; gradually stabilize the lives of the people, first and foremost for one million ethnic minority people. Implement the construction of new economic zones according to planning. Vigorously promote poverty reduction programs; strive for households to achieve self-reliance, particularly ethnic minority households and policy families to reach a moderate standard of living compared to the community.

- Effectively integrate national programs, target programs, and specific projects to achieve tangible socio-economic results.

- Developing the economy in conjunction with national defense security, maintaining state sovereignty. Engaging military forces effectively in economic programs combined with defense such as rubber planting, forest protection and planting, road opening and construction, eradication of illiteracy...

III. MAJOR MEASURES:

Based on the approved overall planning content, there must be comprehensive, appropriate, and effective measures to mobilize internal resources and foreign resources to serve the development of the economy and society in the Central Highlands.

There must be reasonable solutions for utilizing valuable resources such as land funds, labor force, forest resources, water resources... to develop the economy, protect the environment, and increase coverage.

- Implementing incentive measures to gradually attract domestic and foreign investment to create conditions for applying modern science and technology, expanding markets.

- Prioritizing concentrated and decisive investment to achieve practical effectiveness, creating a driving force for economic development and improving living standards.

- Implementing policies to encourage high economic activity for businesses and industries producing competitive products on the market to increase market share and focus on exports.

- Investing in building technical infrastructure to meet current and long-term development needs.

Based on the approved overall planning of the region, provinces within the region must review their own overall planning, prioritize and adjust accordingly to align with the regional planning.

To implement the overall regional planning, provinces must creatively apply mechanisms and policies to drive development. On each provincial territory, Provincial People's Committees must concretize the economic and social development orientation of the planning through specific programs and projects, medium-term and short-term plans to manage and organize implementation according to the set direction.

Article 2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and People's Committees of provinces in the Central Highlands have the responsibility to organize, monitor, and inspect the implementation of this planning in accordance with the approved content.

Central ministries and sectors have the responsibility to coordinate and assist provinces in the Central Highlands during the process of reviewing provincial planning, organizing the implementation of component projects, ensuring consistent development between provincial plans and regional and national plans.

During the implementation of the planning, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must collaborate with relevant ministries, sectors, and People's Committees of provinces in the Central Highlands to conduct evaluations and draw lessons to make timely adjustments and supplements to ensure that economic and social development follows the intended direction and achieves high efficiency.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect fifteen days from the date of signing. The Chairpersons of People's Committees of provinces in the Central Highlands and Ministers, Heads of ministerial agencies, and Heads of government agencies related to this Decision are responsible for its enforcement.