Infrastructure development - the 'runway' for economic take-off

Ho Duc Phuc

Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee

Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Council

(Baonghean) - Infrastructure is an essential foundation for socio-economic development. Infrastructure construction is also one of the key tasks that the Party Committee and the government of Nghe An province have identified in the 2010-2015 term, continuing to improve and promote in the 2015-2020 term, bringing the province's socio-economic development to a breakthrough.

Changes in infrastructure construction

Evaluating the current status of infrastructure construction in Nghe An in recent times, there are some points as follows:

Economic infrastructure has achieved many impressive and comprehensive changes. In particular, the highlight in infrastructure construction during the past term was the upgrading and expansion of the transportation network.

The National Highway 46 overpass project was completed and put into use.

Specifically, Vinh airport was re-planned to become an international airport, upgraded, modernized, expanded, and has the highest growth in domestic passenger volume in the country. Cua Lo port has its channel dredged to accommodate ships of over 10,000 tons.

The road traffic infrastructure system has been given attention and repaired throughout the province and the entire route. Many important projects have been completed such as: upgrading and expanding National Highway 1A, basically opening the National Highway 1A - Nghia Dan - Thai Hoa section, completing Tay Nghe An road, Chau Thon - Tan Xuan road, Ben Thuy 2 bridge, 6 railway and road overpasses, etc.

Other infrastructure systems such as Industrial Parks (IPs), Economic Zones (EZs), irrigation, dams, clean water supply, hydropower, etc. are also invested in new construction or timely upgrading and repair, ensuring conditions for socio-economic development.

Infrastructure construction in Southeast Economic Zone.

Regarding social infrastructure, facilities and equipment in schools have been enhanced, the number of schools meeting national standards in 2015 reached 65%, the post-secondary education system meets the demand for human resource training with 06 universities, 10 colleges, 14 professional and vocational secondary schools.

The health infrastructure has developed rapidly and widely: to date, the province has 39 public and non-public hospitals; the district and provincial hospital system has been invested synchronously with government bond capital and the budget. In particular, the 700-bed General Hospital and the 500-bed International Hospital have been completed and put into use, and construction of the 600-bed hospital is currently underway.

New rural construction has received high attention from leaders and people, becoming a vibrant movement in the whole society and achieving many important results. The total capital mobilized to implement the program in the period of 2011 - 2015 is estimated at over 19,000 billion VND. By the end of 2015, there was 1 district-level unit and 114 communes (accounting for 27% of the total number of communes) meeting the criteria of new rural communes.

With this result, Nghe An is the province with the largest number of communes meeting new rural standards in the country.

Orientation in the near future

The changes in infrastructure construction in recent times have contributed to a clear change in the socio-economic landscape in both rural and urban areas. With the trend of deep integration being identified as the medium and long-term direction of the province, the requirement for developing key infrastructure will become more urgent, requiring more attention from the Party Committee and the provincial government in directing, orienting, allocating resources and supervising management work.

The first task is to prioritize key transport projects, because the core of the integration process is connectivity and transport infrastructure is a prerequisite allowing Nghe An to integrate into the regional connectivity network, and more broadly, to connect with countries in the region.

Continuing to implement the planning of Vinh International Airport, it is necessary to invest in expanding the scale of the terminal to increase service capacity, build an additional 3.5km runway to meet the growth rate in both the number and length of flights. In particular, it is necessary to increase international flights, open new direct flights to countries in the region such as Thailand, Singapore, etc. so that Vinh Airport can truly be an international airport serving the travel needs of not only the people in the province but also in the North Central region.

The road traffic network needs to be further upgraded, especially important routes and works such as: Vinh - Cua Lo Avenue, the road connecting N5 of the Southeast Economic Zone to Hoa Son (Do Luong) - Tan Long (Tan Ky), the coastal road, Thai Hoa - Hoang Mai road, Tay Nghe An road connecting Muong Xen - Ta Do - Khe Khien, Ben Thuy 3 bridge, Yen Xuan bridge across Lam river, provincial road 537, provincial road 534, provincial road 543, provincial road 544B (phase 2).

Once the transport network covers the entire province and connects with other provinces, it is necessary to invest in upgrading the quality and increasing traffic speed by building highways, overpasses, and modern traffic works according to the standards of the industrialization era. It is necessary to speed up the construction of the Nghi Son - Vinh expressway; the expressway connecting Thanh Thuy border gate, Ho Chi Minh road with the North-South expressway; the expressway from Thanh Thuy border gate to Paksan town, Bolykhamxay province, Laos.

Regarding waterway traffic, continue to invest in dredging channels, build wharves 5 and 6 of Cua Lo port for 30,000-ton ships to enter and exit, Dong Hoi transport port, complete Nghi Thiet deep-water port to accommodate 70,000-ton ships.

Second, it is necessary to pay attention to irrigation infrastructure, maximizing and effectively exploiting the network of irrigation works in socio-economic development. Prioritize investment in construction and upgrading of key works such as: Ban Mong Lake Project; Nam Dan sluice phase 2; Vach Nam - Bung river drainage system; construction of a drainage pumping station in the Southeast of Vinh city; upgrading the Bac Nghe An irrigation system; construction of sluices to prevent salinity and retain fresh water on Lam and Hoang Mai rivers; upgrading the Ca river dyke system; renovating and building new fishing ports and storm shelters in districts with many fleets;...

Construction of downstream canals under the Nam Dan sluice gate and canal system upgrading and expansion project.

In particular, it is necessary to conduct deep dredging, widening and extending the Le canal to Lam river and Hoang Mai river, building sluices to store fresh water for agricultural production in case of severe natural phenomena such as drought, saltwater intrusion, etc.

Third, in addition to investing in building physical infrastructure, it is necessary to pay attention to developing service infrastructure, improving the quality of life of the people as well as meeting the needs of out-of-province and foreign visitors to Nghe An. Infrastructure for electricity, water supply and drainage, waste treatment, commercial and urban infrastructure must be developed synchronously, in accordance with regional planning and meeting the requirements of socio-economic development.

Some key projects such as Quynh Lap Thermal Power Plant and Vinh Sub-urban Development Project promise to create a new feature in the province's social infrastructure. Information infrastructure is also one of the new tasks for the next term with the aim of creating a foundation for developing e-Government, improving the quality and efficiency of state management; opening up the flow of information in and out, raising awareness among people in the province, promoting Nghe An to other provinces and countries.

Creating a "runway" for economic takeoff

One of the problems for infrastructure development is mobilizing and allocating capital - especially in the context of limited budget, large area and low starting point of the province.

However, the achievements in recent times have shown the outstanding efforts of the Party Committee, the government and the people of the province, bringing a new look and a more solid foundation for the socio-economic development. In order to continue to build and upgrade the infrastructure system to become more complete and modern, it is necessary to promote the policy of flexibly mobilizing multiple capital sources, encouraging socialized capital and promoting the attraction of investment capital and subsidies from domestic and foreign programs and organizations.

At the same time, it is necessary to evaluate, review and classify projects according to their urgency and value in order to have a plan, prioritize, and focus capital on key projects, avoiding spreading out, causing infrastructure construction to be prolonged and ineffective.

Nghe An is increasingly known domestically and internationally as a “fertile land” for investors, in no small part due to the infrastructure system that is focused on synchronous development. It can be affirmed that, with an increasingly modern and synchronous infrastructure system, Nghe An’s attractiveness to domestic and foreign investors will be enhanced, attracting more flows of wealth and people to come here.

With the available advantages, natural potential and human resources, with the "runway" being a complete infrastructure system, we believe that the province's socio-economic development will take off in the very near future.

Ho Duc Phuc