Breakthrough from potential

(Baonghean) - With the orientations of Resolution No. 11-NQ/TU, Hoang Mai Town has identified a focus on development in the direction of industry, trade, services, and tourism. This is the right direction based on the potential and advantages of the locality. However, to achieve the goal, Hoang Mai Town must have high determination, a suitable roadmap, and appropriate solutions.

Processing crushed stone at Hoang Mai Stone Company.

Despite being established just over a year ago, and facing numerous difficulties, especially the historic floods of October 2013, Hoang Mai Town, through its exceptional efforts, achieved an economic growth rate of nearly 8.55% in 2013. The economic structure shifted positively, with industry, trade, services, and tourism accounting for 73.3%, an increase of 5%; while agriculture, forestry, and fisheries accounted for only 23.24%, a decrease of nearly 9%. These indicators demonstrate the strong development of a town currently undergoing basic construction, with dozens of projects already started with a capital investment exceeding 2,500 billion VND. Furthermore, in the industrial sector, besides the Hoang Mai Cement Plant 1 (with a capacity of over 1.4 million tons/year) and the Hoang Mai Stone Processing Company, the Hoang Mai Cement Plant 2 and Tan Thang Cement Plant projects, with a combined capacity of approximately 6 million tons/year, are currently under development. The Kobelco sponge steel project, the non-fired brick factory, and the Quynh Lap Thermal Power Complex project have completed site preparation and are in the process of finalizing investment procedures.

In addition, to create a favorable environment for attracting new investment projects, the town is continuing to plan the expansion of several industrial parks (IPs) in the area, such as Hoang Mai 2 IP and Dong Hoi IP. Mr. Le Minh Tinh, Director of Hoang Mai Stone Processing Company, commented: The town's development strategy, strongly oriented towards industry, trade, services, and tourism, is correct. This orientation not only exploits the potential of local resources but also provides an opportunity to shift the economic structure. Mr. Tinh's assessment stems from the fact that the company has been established and developed for over 50 years, initially focusing on quarrying and crushing crushed stone; however, it has recently shifted its investment towards the production of railway sleepers and construction. Thanks to this, the company is not only one of the three railway sleeper manufacturers of the Vietnam Railway Corporation, with revenue exceeding 100 billion VND per year, but it also contributes an average of 10-15 billion VND to the town's budget annually...

Regarding the implementation of the orientation to promote trade development, the town will prioritize the development of a commercial and service system with 8 markets, 1 third-class commercial center, several supermarkets and accommodation facilities... Although newly established, Hoang Mai town already has 5 banks operating, including 2 head offices and 3 branches, with a total mobilized capital of over 2,557 billion VND, outstanding loans of 3,286 billion VND, of which 97% of the outstanding loans are invested in production and business development... One of the advantageous service areas that the town is focusing on investing in is fisheries logistics to meet the needs of the fishing industry, which accounts for a very large proportion of the town's economic structure, with over 60% of the production value of coastal wards and communes such as Quynh Di, Quynh Phuong, and Quynh Lap.

Mr. Pham Chi Dien, Head of the Economic Department of Hoang Mai Town, said: "Fishery logistics services play a very important role in the town's marine economy, but the infrastructure of fishing ports in the area has not been fundamentally invested in. The ports and wharves are mainly invested in spontaneously by the local authorities and people, so the quality of service is still limited, and the wharves are not managed or supervised, resulting in an unclean environment... In the future, to improve the quality of fisheries logistics services, along with accelerating the review of planning and project progress, the town must have a plan to invest in upgrading the infrastructure of fisheries logistics services. Accordingly, along with continuing to upgrade the unfinished embankment lines at Quynh Lap fishing port, the town must regularly organize dredging of channels and mooring areas to facilitate the entry and exit of large-capacity vessels. In addition, a plan to upgrade Quynh Phuong bridge should be developed soon to ensure safe and convenient access for large-capacity vessels." This ensures connectivity and ease of travel between the town center and the Cờn Temple cultural tourist site, as well as connecting with the Quỳnh beach tourist route (Quỳnh Lưu).

Regarding tourism development orientation, along with investing in infrastructure development for coastal tourism, Hoang Mai Town needs to focus on investing in surveys to establish an ecological and cultural tourism route from Corn Temple, Mai Giang river mouth upstream to Vuc Mau Lake; continue to improve infrastructure to exploit spiritual and cultural tourism, notably Corn Temple (Quynh Phuong), Xuan Uc Temple (Quynh Lien)... According to statistics, Hoang Mai Town welcomes an average of 110,000-130,000 tourists annually, with the largest number coming from spiritual and cultural tourism at Corn Temple. However, to achieve the target of attracting 250,000-300,000 tourists annually, the town must invest more heavily in tourism infrastructure, re-plan tourism routes in a rational way, and retain tourists...

Comrade Doan Hong Vu, Secretary of the Hoang Mai Town Party Committee, stated: Following the issuance of Resolution 11 by the Provincial Party Committee's Standing Committee, the town's Party Committee has just reviewed and approved a list of 29 key projects and programs for implementation. In the future, to transform Hoang Mai town into an industrial, commercial, service, and tourism hub, a key economic zone of the province, and a driving force for the Southern Thanh Hoa - Northern Nghe An region, the town has identified industry as a major sector and a breakthrough area. To achieve this, among the nine groups of solutions, the town has chosen two key breakthroughs: improving planning so that plans are one step ahead; and focusing on administrative reform to create consensus and unity among the people, thereby improving the investment environment.

Text and photos:Nguyen Hai