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DECISION No.1/1998/QD-TTg OF JANUARY 5, 1998 RATIFYING THE MASTER PLAN FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA REGION FROM NOW TILL THE YEAR 2010

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

At the proposal of the Chairman of the State Council for Evaluation of Investment Projects at Official Dispatch No.6921-HDBT of October 31, 1997,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the master plan for socio-economic development of the Mekong river delta region encompassing 12 provinces (Long An, Tien Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Ben Tre, An Giang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau) with the following principal contents:

I. THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES:

1. On the economic plane:

- To strive to increase the per-capita GDP by 1.5 times from now to the year 2000 and 3.54 times by the year 2010 as compared with 1994.

- To develop the external economy, striving to achieve an average annual growth rate of 18% for the period from now to the year 2010; to achieve an export value of 1,490 million USD by the year 2000 and 8,600 million USD by the year 2010.

- To attain a domestic accumulation rate of 11.6% of the GDP for the period from now to the year 2000 and 15.5% for the 2001-2010 period.

- To strive to renew the technologies and equipment with an annual renewal rate of 15% for the existing equipment and technologies; to equip new establishments with advanced technologies; to turn out industrial and agricultural products and services with high competitiveness on the market.

2. On the social plane:

- To create jobs, to reduce the unemloyment rate, to strive to increase the rate of industrial, construction and service labor to 50% of the total work force of the region; to basically eliminate hunger by the year 2005; by the year 2000, to complete the rural electrification, to supply electricity to 90% of the peasant households and clean water to 100% of the rural population, more than 90% of population to live in solid or half-solid houses.

- To strive to achieve the universalization of the primary education for children by the year 2000 and junior-high school education in cities and provincial towns by the year 2010; to diversify the forms of professional and vocational training so as to raise the percentage of technical laborers to 30% by the year 2010.

- To consolidate and develop the medical network, to pay attention to the primary health-care for the people; to well meet the essential needs of the people, to attach importance to improving the living conditions of the people in deep-lying, remote and border areas and islands. To build an equitable and civilized society; to build a healthy community culture and to get rid of social evils.

- To combine the socio-economic development with the improvement of ecological environment and sustainable development.

3. On the plane of national security and defense:

To keep up the social discipline, order and safety, to closely combine the economic development with the consolidation of national defense, the maintenance of political security and national sovereignty.

II. THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENT TASKS:

1. Regarding the development of agriculture, forestry and fishery:

- Regarding agriculture: To strive to achieve an annual agricultural growth rate of 5% for the period from now to the year 2010.

To strive to increase the output of high-quality and speciality paddy, so as to be able to annually export 3.5-4 million tons of rice by the year 2010.

To restructure the agriculture, raising the husbandry ratio of from 20% at present to 37% by the year 2010, and developing husbandry into a main production line; to build an agriculture with the sustainable ecological development; to increase the ratio of commercial farm products, to expand the market in service of export. To develop agriculture in order to create sources of materials for the processing industry. To restructure the cultivation, attaching importance to intensive rice farming and development of rice plant products, to study the possible alteration of several crops so as to avoid natural calamities and floods. To pay attention to the use of land fund and alterable land fund along the direction of diversifying products and building areas for specialized cultivation of high-yield and quality crops; to achieve a total agricultural land area of 3.5 to 4 million hectares. To concentrate on the exploitation of Dong Thap Muoi (Plain of Reeds) and western Hau river regions as well as Ca Mau peninsula.

- Regarding forestry: to step up the tree planting and afforestation so as to restore and protect the ecological environment, to form a protective line along the East Sea coast. To plant and protect the protective forests in Bay Nui region, to maintain the cajuput acreage, to stabilize the nipa acreage, to protect forests submerged by saline water. To step up the planting of scattered trees, to closely combine the development of agriculture, forestry, irrigation with aquaculture. To step by step assign land, assign and contract forests to households so as to combine horticulture with forestry and fishery, shrimp farming with afforestation.

- Regarding the aquatic and marine resources: to bring into full play the advantages of a region endowed with a long sea coast, large fishing grounds and local people having experiences in aquaculture and fishing. To raise the capability of such an important economic sector that contributes 50% of the gross export value of aquatic and marine products of the whole country. To equip the fishing boats with modern facilities so as to gradually develop off-shore fishing.

To develop the farming of aquatic products of high value: shrimps, crabs and special products of high export value. To encourage the production models suitable to the conditions of the region, so as to contribute to the economic restructure, meeting the requirements of production and people's life.

2. Regarding the industrial development:

- To strive to achieve an average annual industrial growth rate of 13% for the period from now to the year 2000 and 14% for the 2001-2010 period.

To attach importance to the development of food and foodstuff processing industry so as to increase the industrial proportion in the economic structure up to above 60% by the year 2010. To develop the apparel, textile, leather and shoe making, electronic engineering, construction materials, chemicals, animal feed processing industries... to manufacture products with high technical and technological contents, being capable of competing on the market.

- To undertake a gradual renovation conducive to the economic restructure in the region.

- To step up the mobilization of foreign and domestic investment. To prepare necessary conditions for the investment in the following industrial zones: Tra Noc, Nam Hung Phu, Vi Thanh, Ben Luc, Duc Hoa, Cau Van, Go Den, Luong Hoa, Can Duoc, Nam Can, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Dai Ngai, Dai An, Tra Vinh provincial township, North My Thuan, Binh Minh, North Co Chien, Dieu Ga, Western Tan Quy, Tran Quoc Toan, My Tra, Song Hau, Kien Luong, Ba Hon, Hon Chong, Rach Gia, Tac Cau, Ben Nhat, Phu Quoc, Vam Cong, Chau Doc, Bay Nui, Chau Thanh (Tien Giang province), Cai Lay, Eastern Go Cong. To step by step build the industrial zones under the guidelines of completing zone by zone and avoiding scattered investment so as to ensure high economic efficiency.

- To concentrate on the development of those industries capable of intensively employing the labor force available in the region and spreading their medium- and small-scale plants equipped with advanced technologies to scattered locations, so as to create more jobs and contribute to the rural industrialization.

3. Regarding the trade and service development:

- To strive to achieve an average annual growth rate of 11% for the period from now to the year 2000 and 13% for the 2001-2010 period.

The development of commerce and services must help promote the development of other economic sectors in the whole region, so as to achieve the set socio-economic objectives.

- To build trade centers, department stores, network of markets... thus creating a favorable environment for production and business. For the period from now to the year 2010, to build the region's trade center in Can Tho province acting as a hub for inter-regional trade activities. At the same time, to build a number of provincial trade centers in Tan An, Cao Lanh, My Tho, Long Xuyen, Rach Gia, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Ha Tien, Chau Doc, Tan Chau and Moc Hoa, to provide commercial information on organization and management of export and import, circulation of goods in service of the production and people's life.

- To restructure the service sectors along the direction of giving priority to tourism as well as financial, banking, telecommunications and technological transfer services, encouraging all economic sectors to take part in service activities.

- To make full use of the region's geographical advantages in order to quickly develop garden and ecological tourism in tourist links with Ho Chi Minh City and key economic zones and inter-regional tourist lines such as the Central Highlands and the Eastern South Vietnam to attract tourists. To develop infrastructure and the material and technical bases in a synchronous manner, to combine the exploitation with the renovation, the preservation of nature, the maintenance and development of tourist resources and the promotion of the national cultural identity.

4. Regarding the development of infrastructure:

To develop the communication network: waterways, land roads and airways as planned. To attach importance to the communication networks in rural, deep-lying, remote and border areas, to create favorable conditions for the development of areas meeting with difficulties, former resistance bases, islands.

To upgrade sea ports and river ports situated along Tien and Hau rivers, regularly dredge navigation routes, especially those in Dinh An, Tien and Tran De estuaries.

To upgrade the national highways' sections in the region, to improve the intra-provincial communication systems. To combine communication with the improvement of the irrigation, bridge and drainage systems and works in service of flood drainage, storm and flood prevention and fight. Together with the prevention of saline water infiltration and washing away saline water from soil, it is necessary to keep land conditioned by fresh water.

To build Tra Noc airport into the central airport of the Mekong river delta region, to manage and maintain other airports for use when necessary.

To upgrade or newly build water supply and drainage systems in urban areas, industrial zones, to satisfy clean water demand of the rural population.

To combine the construction with the upgrading of systems of schools, hospitals and cultural houses to meet the needs of the people.

Regarding post and telecommunications: To modernize the post and telecommunications sector with automatic and digital equipment, to synchronize the information and communications network commensurate with the domestic information and international communications demand.

Regarding the electricity grid: To invest in the construction of new projects in combination with the renovation and expansion of Tra Noc thermo-electric power plant, to improve the networks of 220 KV and 110 KV transmission lines, to expand the existing transformer stations, to build distribution stations to meet the requirements of production development and life. To attach importance to the rural electrification in service of industrialization.

Regarding the urban networks and territorial corrider space: To combine the construction with the renovation in order to formulate urban networks of various grades, to strive to raise the urbanization rate in the region to 19% by the year 2000 and 30% by the year 2010. To develop 3 urban centers: the quadrilateral center (Can Tho, Long Xuyen, Vinh Long and Cao Lanh cities); the East-South corridor space (My Tho, Tan An, Thu Thua, Ben Luc cities...) and the West-North urban corridor along Vinh Tay (West Gulf). To attach importance to the organization and development of population quarters in rural areas, especially the rural urbanization; to create conditions for the development of border areas, coastal areas, islands and flood-prone areas, and narrow the gaps between the areas.

5. Regarding culture, education, healthcare and social welfare:

- To develop and raise the quality and efficiency of the education and training system so as to elevate the people's intellectual level and develop human resources to meet the requirements of the regional as well as national industrialization and modernization.

- To renovate and upgrade the existing medical establishments and build new ones; to consolidate and develop the system of general hospitals in service of the primary healthcare, the epidemic prevention and fight and the medical examination and treatment for people, to efficiently carry out the population control and family planning program. To step by step socialize the healthcare in service of the fight against septic diseases, the universalization of rational nutrition and the improvement of the hygienic conditions for the living and working environments.

To continue improving and raising the efficiency of radio and television broadcasting, cultural, sports and physical training activities. To conduct research and apply advanced and modern sciences and technologies as the foundation and driving force for the socio-economic development in the region. To efficiently integrate the national programs and target programs, to achieve the objective of hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, especially in deep-lying areas, remote areas and areas inhabited by people of ethnic minorities and meeting with numerous difficulties.

III. MAJOR SOLUTIONS:

To implement the master plan, there should be a series of synchronous measures so as to mobilize resources inside and outside the country for the socio-economic development of the Mekong delta region. The People's Committee of each province shall have to concretize the socio-economic development orientations set forth in the master plan into long-term, medium-term and short-term plans, specific programs and investment projects, aimed at controlling and managing the development process along the set orientations.

The concerned localities, ministries and branches shall have to propose to the Government for approval policies and solutions regarding the investment attraction, capital mobilization, human resource development, application of scientific, technological and environmental protection measures, market expansion in service of production and people's life in order to achieve the socio-economic objectives.

Priority shall be given to the construction of technical infrastructure and intensive investment in order to achieve practical efficiency and create motive forces for the development of the region.

To adopt a policy of high economic incentives towards those sectors that turn out products of high competitiveness on the market and products for export.

On the basis of the ratified planning, the provinces in the region shall have to revise their own master plans, programs and plans for socio-economic development so as to arrange them in a proper priority order through annual plans and specific projects.

Article 2.- The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People's Committees of provinces in the Mekong river delta region shall have to organize and oversee the implementation of the master plan and work out five-year and annual plans, programs and projects in conformity with the master plan.

The ministries and branches at the central level shall have to coordinate with and support the provinces in the Mekong river delta region in revising and organizing the implementation of the set projects with a view to ensuring the consistency between the planning of each province and the planning of the region and the whole country.

In the course of implementation of the planning, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches and the People's Committees of the Mekong delta provinces in making review, evaluation and drawing experience so as to devise timely adjustments and supplements.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect 15 after its signing. The presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces in the Mekong river delta region and the concerned ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies and the heads of the agencies attached to the Government shall have to implement this Decision.

Prime Minister

PHAN VAN KHAI