Decision No. 786/QD-TTg on approving the Project "Developing the Economy and Society of Van Don Economic Zone, Quang Ninh Province"

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the approval of the Project "Economic and Social Development of Van Don Economic Zone, Quang Ninh Province"

Van Don Economic Zone, Quang Ninh Province

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Considering the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment at Document No. 302 BKH/TĐ&GSĐT dated January 13, 2006, Document No. 3115 BKH/TD&GSĐT dated May 4, 2006, and the report of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province at Report No. 2447/TT-UBND dated September 30, 2005 on the Project for economic and social development of Van Don Economic Zone, Quang Ninh Province.

Pursuant to …;

Article 1: Approve the Project "Economic and Social Development of Van Don Economic Zone, Quang Ninh Province" with the main contents as follows:

I. LOCATION, ROLE AND FUNCTION OF THE VAN DON ECONOMIC ZONE.

1. Scope of the Van Don Economic Zone.

The Van Don Economic Zone includes the entire Van Don island district of Quang Ninh province; to the north and northeast it borders the districts of Tien Yen and Dam Ha; to the southeast it borders the district of Co To; to the west it borders the city of Cam Pha and the city of Ha Long. The Van Don Economic Zone has one town and eleven communes, with over 600 large and small islands located within Bai Tu Long Bay.

2. Location and role.

- It is the economic center of eastern Quang Ninh province and the Red River Delta region.

- It is one of the important international trading gateways of the Northeast Vietnam region.

- It has an important national defense and security position in northern Vietnam.

3. Function.

- It is a high-quality marine and island eco-tourism center, a high-end service center, and a large-scale maritime and air transport hub that is significant for the Northeast Vietnam region.

- It is one of the driving forces for the development of the Northern Key Economic Region and all of northern Vietnam.

- It is a solid outpost in the northeastern part of the country.

II. DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES.

- Become a high-quality marine and island eco-tourism center, an international airport center, a high-end service center, and an international trading hub; making a significant contribution to economic growth and sustainable development in Quang Ninh.

- Ensure national defense and security, social order and safety, contributing to maintaining national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

III. DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES.

- Developing the Van Don Economic Zone must be closely linked and serve as a driving force for the development of Quang Ninh province and the entire North Central region.

- Developing the Van Don Economic Zone must be closely linked with the development of neighboring areas such as Ha Long city, Cam Pha city, Mong Cai city, Co To district, Dam Ha district, Tien Yen district, etc., with a long-term vision and appropriate steps until 2020.

- Ensuring sustainable development, balancing high growth with social issues and environmental protection; ensuring short-term and long-term socio-economic efficiency.

- Selecting and prioritizing with appropriate steps towards forming a comprehensive, modern, long-term economic structure that is sustainable.

- Implementing unified, concentrated, and resolute management and operation of all activities to ensure sustainable development of the Van Don Economic Zone, ensuring feasibility and initiative in development.

- Combining economic and social development with environmental protection, preserving and promoting cultural heritage, contributing to ensuring national defense and security, maintaining political stability and social order and safety in the area.

IV. DIRECTIONS FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMIC ZONE.

1. Basic orientation for the development of the economic zone.

- The focus is on developing high-quality marine and island eco-tourism with many unique, diverse, and attractive tourism products.

- Building a modern international airport to meet the development needs of Quang Ninh province and the Northeast Vietnam region.

- Forming a modern port mainly serving tourism and services.

- Building a high-end service center: finance, banking, restaurants, hotels.

- Developing fisheries, focusing on aquaculture and sea specialties such as pearls, abalone, scallops, fan mussels, etc., to serve high-quality tourism; building some fishing service facilities but ensuring they do not disrupt the tourism space and protect the marine environment.

- Developing modern science and technology application bases; first, to serve the development of clean industry, high-quality seafood processing industry, industries serving tourism, services, and transportation.

- Building a beautiful, modern, and distinctly ethnic garden-city by the sea.

2. Directions for development.

a) Period 2006-2010:

Focus on building a complete infrastructure to ensure rapid development of various economic sectors.

The average annual GDP growth rate is about 20-26%; the expected per capita GDP is approximately two-thirds of the provincial average at the same time; the per capita GDP is estimated to be around $880-$1,000 by 2010.

The economic sector structure in 2010: services-industry-agriculture, forestry, and fishery is 48.2%-20.8%-31%.

The ratio between non-agricultural and agricultural sectors is 2.1/1.

The correlation coefficient between the growth rate of the service sector and production sectors is 1.5.

Complete the basic key projects: detailed planning, start and complete some components of the airport, seaport, some tourist areas, the main road along Cai Bau Island, complete the power supply and telecommunications systems.

b) Period 2011-2015:

This is the period to complete the infrastructure.

The average annual GDP growth rate is about 18-22%; the expected per capita GDP is equal to the provincial average at the same time; the per capita GDP is estimated to be around $3,600-$5,000 by 2015.

The economic sector structure in 2015: services-industry-agriculture, forestry, and fishery is 58.8%-31.7%-9.5%.

The ratio between non-agricultural and industrial sectors is 9.6/1.

The correlation coefficient between the growth rate of the service sector and production sectors is 1.27.

Complete Phase I of the airport; complete Phase I of the seaport and Cai Rong urban area, basically complete the tourist areas; complete the road traffic, power supply, and water supply systems.

c) Period 2016-2020:

This is the period to finalize the development.

The average annual GDP growth rate is about 14-16.5%; the expected per capita GDP exceeds the provincial average at the same time; the per capita GDP is estimated to be around $15,000-$18,000 by 2020.

The economic structure of industries in 2020: services - industry – agriculture, forestry, fishery is 68.5% - 27.4% – 4.1%.

The ratio between non-agricultural and agricultural industries is 21.7/1.

The correlation coefficient between the growth rate of the tourism industry and that of production industries is 1.35.

Basically completed the construction of enterprises in the Van Don Economic Zone.

3. Building a breakthrough infrastructure system.

- Building airports and developing air cargo transport:

It is planned to build an airport with a runway length of 3.5 km, capable of accommodating modern aircraft. In the initial phase, the capacity will be 500 – 800 thousand passengers/year; during the period from 2016 to 2020, the capacity will be 3 – 3.5 million passengers/year. Additionally, studies will be conducted on building several helicopter airports on islands with favorable conditions.

- Forming seaports and developing maritime transport:

Investing in constructing the Van Hoa port with a capacity of over 1.0 million tons/year, serving cargo and passenger transportation. In the initial phase, the port will accommodate ships of up to 5,000 tons, and in the subsequent phase (by 2015), ships of up to 10,000 tons.

Furthermore, upgrading and expanding the ports at Cai Rong, Quan Lan, Con Trieu, Thang Loi, Cong Yen; constructing a new port at Hon Hai; studying the construction of a fishing port in the area adjacent to Cuu Ong.

- Road transportation network:

Concentrating investment in constructing main roads, including cross-island roads, inter-village roads, and bridges.

+ Constructing the Van Tien bridge connecting Van Don district with Tien Yen district (near the Mu Chua port area).

+ Constructing a high-speed road and bridge from the Ha Long – Mong Cai expressway to the Van Don Economic Zone.

+ Studying the construction of a high-speed road and bridge from Cuu Ong – Van Tien – Tien Yen to the Van Don Economic Zone.

+ Studying the investment in constructing roads and bridges connecting the Cai Bau island area through Bai Tu Long Bay to Ban Sen and Quan Lan, Minh Chau.

+ Investing in constructing three cross-island roads on Cai Bau; inter-village roads and trunk roads on the islands; roads from the center of village clusters to villages, hamlets, tourist areas, and residential zones.

- Power supply system:

+ By 2010, installing two 35 KV lines from Cuu Ong to Van Don. Increasing the capacity of the intermediate substation at Cai Rong by three times. Upgrading the medium voltage network in the Cai Bau area from 10 KV to 22 KV. Completing low voltage lines and substations to ensure 100% of residents on Cai Bau Island have access to electricity. Increasing the capacity of diesel power plants, installing two wind power plants at Ngoc Vung and Thang Loi, constructing low voltage lines and substations to ensure at least 80% of residents in island communes have access to electricity.

+ By 2015, installing a 110 KV line from Mong Duong or Cuu Ong to Van Don. Constructing a 22 KV line from Cai Bau Island to Ban Sen Island, bringing national grid electricity to Ban Sen – Minh Chau – Quan Lan.

+ After 2015, constructing a 220 KV power line from Mong Duong to Van Don, installing intermediate substations with a capacity of 100,000 – 125,000 KVA to provide electricity for the islands. Studying the extension of the national grid to the communes of Ngoc Vung and Thang Loi.

- Water supply system:

Combining the maximum exploitation of local water sources with the delivery of water from the mainland to the islands.

+ By 2010, drawing water from the Dien Vuong Water Plant (Cam Pha) to supply Van Don (Cai Bau Island) approximately 5,000 m³/day-night. Other islands will exploit natural water sources.³+ By 2015, drawing water from the Dien Vuong Water Plant to supply Cai Bau Island approximately 20,000 m³/day-night; simultaneously investing in constructing the Khe Ngai dam and supplying 10,000 m³/day-night for daily use. For island communes, constructing reservoirs and dams to extract water sources.

+ After 2015, in addition to water from the Dien Vuong Water Plant, further investments will be made in constructing reservoirs and dams to increase water supply; if possible, combining the construction of pipelines to deliver water from the mainland to the islands.³/day and night; at the same time, invest in constructing the Khe Ngai dam and supply 10,000 m³/day and night for daily use.³/day and night. For island communes, construct reservoirs and dams to obtain water sources.

+ After 2015, in addition to the water source from the Diem Vuong Water Plant, additional reservoirs and dams will be constructed to increase water supply; if possible, combine with building pipelines to bring water from the mainland to the islands.

- Telecommunications network:

Investing in modernizing the postal and telecommunications system.

+ Phase until 2015: installing mobile communication stations, ensuring coverage throughout the entire area. Constructing 10 commune post offices – cultural centers, providing information services, increasing the number of fixed telephones by three times the current amount. Connecting to the Internet and integrating into the provincial and national networks.

+ Phase after 2015: upgrading the Cai Rong town post office into a modern postal and telecommunications center. Ensuring mobile coverage both domestically and internationally within the area.

- Developing high-quality marine tourism and air cargo transport:

Building Van Don into a tourism center, including: a high-end sea and island resort center; cultural tourism, ecological tourism; marine sports and entertainment; transit tourism, a transfer point for domestic and international tourists.

Planning to invest in constructing three tourism clusters, including: the Cai Bau central tourism cluster, the Ngoc Vung – Thang Loi tourism cluster, the Quan Lan – Minh Chau tourism cluster.

4. Directions for developing industries and fields.

a) Industry (including mechanical and small-scale industries): developing high-tech, clean industries primarily serving tourism and producing high-quality products. Prioritizing foreign investment attraction to produce exportable industrial products. Initially prioritizing the development of the following types of industries:

- Processing industry for agricultural and seafood products.

- Electronics, electrical equipment, household goods.

- Software industry, biotechnology industry.

b) Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries: developing agriculture, forestry, and fisheries towards diversification and sustainability in terms of commodity production linked to processing industries; significantly transforming crop and livestock structures to suit the ecological conditions of each island commune, diversifying rural occupations and services.

Investing in intensive farming, changing cropping patterns and increasing from two to three crops where conditions permit; upgrading and repairing reservoirs and dams for irrigation; introducing new varieties into production; reclaiming and expanding arable land; gradually increasing food crops and short-cycle cash crops with high economic efficiency, developing specialty crops.

Developing concentrated animal husbandry, striving to make it the main production sector in agriculture.

Invest in protecting existing natural forests, setting aside areas for forest regeneration, and increasing forest capital both in area and volume. Increase forest coverage to approximately 61-64% of the total area, ensuring environmental and ecological conditions. Plant trees to create scenic landscapes, green parks in urban areas, and recreational zones at beaches and entertainment sites.

Develop the seafood industry into a significant economic sector. Study and establish a fishing center for the Province and its region.

c) Supporting service industries: develop high-value, civilized, and modern service sectors. Prioritize areas such as telecommunications, finance, trade, and high-quality healthcare advisory services.

d) Education and training: build an advanced education system on par with national standards, equipped with complete and modern facilities to ensure the best educational quality. Establish a comprehensive vocational training system meeting regional and international standards. Improve the quantity and quality of teachers at all levels through plans for high-quality human resource development at provincial, central, or foreign institutions when conditions permit.

đ) Healthcare: construct a healthcare system from county to village, hamlet, and commune, equipped with modern facilities, skilled medical staff meeting national and international standards.

e) Physical culture and sports: develop physical infrastructure for sports to meet the growing demands of the movement. Focus on building some high-performance sports disciplines. Promote socialization in physical culture and sports activities.

g) Culture and information: develop modern, diverse, and richly ethnic cultural and information systems. Foster a civilized lifestyle and healthy spiritual life. Complete the cultural and information network from county to village, hamlet, and commune. Promote socialization in the cultural and information sector.

h) Radio and television: increase the percentage of households able to listen to radio and watch television from the current 75% to 100% by 2015. By 2015, achieve full television coverage across the entire county and surrounding areas.

5. Directions for organizing economic and social space.

a) Develop core sectors.

- Special heritage zones of high quality: build two large, high-quality tourism centers, namely the Cái Rồng Urban Area and the Quan Lạn Urban Area.

- Airports and seaports: construct an airport in the Đoàn Kết Commune area; form the Vạn Hoa Seaport.

- Construct high-quality service facilities such as financial, banking, and insurance service systems; high-tech and high-quality telecommunication services; high-quality healthcare and hospital facilities; modern residential complexes.

- Fishing logistics centers and marine services: build a fishery port and fishing service facilities adjacent to Cửa Ông and a fishing logistics center in Đầm Hà. Form a search and rescue, maritime police center.

b) Develop urban space: organize a distinctive coastal eco-city space, characteristic of sea-village cities, with high-rise residential complexes featuring modern services. By 2015, focus on developing urban centers linked with commerce and tourism, including: the Cái Rồng Central Urban Area (Class III), the Đoàn Kết Urban Area (Class III), the Quan Lạn Urban Area (Class IV), and urban towns: Vạn Hoa, Ngọc Vừng, Minh Châu, Bản Sen, Thắng Lợi.

c) Develop industry: in the Đoàn Kết Center, develop clean industry (software, electronics, etc.), aviation-related industry. On Thắng Lợi Island, develop high-quality seafood processing facilities.

đ) Develop tourism and green spaces: on the main island, build three tourist service areas linked with entertainment and gambling resorts featuring hotels ranging from 2 to 5 stars and mass-market hotels. Form tourist spots at Ngọc Vừng, Quan Lạn, and Minh Châu.

e) Develop commerce: build commercial centers linked with airports and urban areas. Form wholesale markets on the sea adjacent to Cửa Ông and Thắng Lợi Island.

g) Develop transportation services: build a comprehensive tourism and residential service area linked with the airport in the Đoàn Kết Commune area and a helicopter airport system. Build high-quality maritime transportation service areas linked with the Vạn Hoa Port, Cái Rồng Port, and other wharfs. Study building a comprehensive fishing service area linked with the fishery port adjacent to Cửa Ông or Thắng Lợi Island.

g) Develop provincial transportation: plan vehicle parking points; develop bus, taxi, and air, road, and sea transport methods.

6. Land use orientation.

V. IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES.

1. Investment measures.

Implement appropriate incentive policies to attract investment; maximize and effectively utilize state budget support funds and credit sources; encourage joint ventures and collaborations with economic entities within and outside the Province; implement effective policies to leverage internal resources, encouraging all types of economic entities, entrepreneurs, and household businesses to invest in production and business; attract ODA and FDI funds; consider other funding mobilization methods such as issuing government bonds, public-private partnerships (BOT, BT, BTO, etc.) based on financial conditions and capabilities.

2. Human resource development.

Enhance the quality of local human resources through concentrated, part-time training, expanding vocational training centers, and strengthening leadership and management cadre training. Implement preferential policies to attract highly skilled labor from other places.

3. Policy and mechanism orientation.

a) Management mechanisms: research specific and suitable management mechanisms for the Vân Đồn Economic Zone according to its requirements and characteristics. The Government Head decides to establish the Vân Đồn Economic Zone Management Board.

b) Preferential policies and mechanisms:

- Investment attraction incentives, land and water rental prices, profit repatriation, re-investment incentives under the Investment Law;

- High independence in foreign trade activities;

- Applicable to other provincial-level economic zones nationwide;

- Other incentives;

c) Land and real estate policies:

- Land policies are implemented according to the Land Law;

- Concentration of land, not allocating land for separate projects with small areas;

- Individuals and domestic and foreign economic organizations are granted or leased land at the most favorable rates for investment in infrastructure construction and business development;

- The State supports technical infrastructure investment to provide investors with land with synchronized infrastructure at preferential prices;

- Transfer prices of land use rights and subleasing of land are fully carried out through market mechanisms;

- Permitting Vietnamese individuals, overseas Vietnamese, foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam, and foreign investors to invest in building houses for sale or lease; investing in infrastructure construction for leasing land with built infrastructure in the Van Don Economic Zone according to the purpose of each project and the Land Law;

d) Financial policies: implementing preferential policies to regulate revenue distribution between the central budget and local budgets according to the State Budget Law to increase investment capital for the Van Don Economic Zone;

4. Management and operation.

a) Administrative organization: establishing and promulgating the Operating Regulations of the Van Don Economic Zone. Within the Economic Zone, there are administrative units modeled after central city districts, towns, and communes;

b) Management regulations: the organizational structure and staffing plan of the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board shall be proposed by the Provincial People's Committee together with the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval by the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Home Affairs approves annual staffing quotas;

Article 2. The Provincial People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province shall base on the goals, tasks, and development orientations of the Van Don Economic Zone stated in the Project after its approval; coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to direct the establishment and approval and implementation of the following contents in accordance with regulations:

- Establishing the Operating Regulations of the Van Don Economic Zone and submitting them to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision;

- Coordinating with the Ministry of Home Affairs to establish the Project for the establishment of the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board, including functions, tasks, authorities, and organizational structure, and submitting it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision;

- Adjusting and supplementing the overall socio-economic development planning of Quang Ninh Province to align with the development goals of the Van Don Economic Zone;

- Promoting, advertising, and publicly announcing the Project and the overall socio-economic development planning of the Van Don Economic Zone;

- Permitting the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee and the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board to hire foreign consultants with sufficient capacity (if necessary) to participate in the preparation of the General Urban Planning, Detailed Construction Planning for important areas;

- Directing the preparation and approval of land use planning, general urban planning, detailed construction planning for functional zones, and investment projects within the Van Don Economic Zone in accordance with current regulations;

- Approving the list of investment development projects and annual basic construction investment plans in the Van Don Economic Zone;

- Directing and creating conditions for the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board to operate and fulfill assigned functions, tasks, and authorities;

- Directing the Van Don District People's Committee to effectively carry out land clearance work; directing provincial functional agencies to cooperate with the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board to resolve issues related to investment development, management, and operation of the Van Don Economic Zone;

- Developing solutions and formulating plans to mobilize various sources of capital, implementing both investment and exploitation from land funds to generate income for reinvestment to serve the socio-economic development of the Van Don Economic Zone. In the short term during the period of 2006-2010, specific and attractive policies for attracting investment must be developed down to each project and sector; first and foremost, policies for mobilizing resources from land exploitation and attracting investment from all economic sectors, enterprises, investors within and outside the locality, and foreign investors;

- Studying and issuing or submitting to competent state agencies for issuance (if the issue exceeds authority) specific mechanisms and policies to effectively mobilize and utilize resources, encourage, and attract investment to ensure the achievement of socio-economic development goals, tasks, and orientations of the Van Don Economic Zone;

Article 3. Relevant ministries and sectors shall perform state management functions over the Van Don Economic Zone; coordinate and support the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee and the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board in the establishment, adjustment, and supplementation of the aforementioned regulations, projects, and plans; accelerate investment and implementation of large-scale and important projects for the development of the Van Don Economic Zone that have been decided upon; study and consider adjustments and supplements to industry development plans and investment project plans that are expected to be invested in the Van Don Economic Zone;

Article 4. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette;

Article 5. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, and Director of the Van Don Economic Zone Management Board are responsible for implementing this Decision./.