Building visionary solutions, bringing Nam Dan to the right level and sustainably

(Baonghean) - Prioritize industrial development or choose to develop high-tech commodity agriculture associated with new rural construction, trade, tourism and service development?

That was the question analyzed and clarified during the working session of Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh, leaders of provincial departments and branches with the Standing Committee of Nam Dan District Party Committee on the morning of January 11.

Recognize the existence and limitations

Chairing the meeting, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh asked, in 10 years of implementing Conclusion No. 11 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, has Nam Dan district developed in the right direction and according to its potential? And how does it compare with surrounding localities? From there, the district should clarify the above issues to have the most complete and in-depth assessment.

Along with that, it is necessary to clarify the reasons why the district's development speed has not reached the expected level? Specifically, where are the problems and which aspects are still weak? Answering the above questions will help to build a more suitable direction and tasks for building and developing the district in the coming time.

Production line at Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited (Nam Giang, Nam Dan). Photo: PV

In fact, looking back at the results of 10 years of implementing Conclusion No. 11 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee of Nam Dan, although the total production value increased 2.3 times, the budget revenue increased 3.5 times compared to 2007; however, if frankly assessed, compared to the requirements of Conclusion No. 11, the results achieved in some areas of the district are still at a low level, not commensurate with the requirements and attention of the province.

As the Standing Committee of Nam Dan District Party Committee has also pointed out, the locality has not yet become a well-off district of the country and has not yet become a typical district of the province, especially in education and culture; the economy has developed slowly, is not sustainable, and lacks large economic bases to create breakthroughs for development.

At the same time, the work of preserving, embellishing and promoting the value of historical and cultural relics in the area, especially Kim Lien Relic Site associated with the development of tourism services, is still ineffective; the results of new rural construction are not commensurate with the position of a pilot district for new rural construction nationwide...

Tourists visit Kim Lien Relic Site, Nam Dan. Photo courtesy.

In particular, in the field of tourism, which is considered the strength of Nam Dan, although the locality welcomes 1.5-1.8 million visitors each year, the results are still limited. Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Huu Mao said that although Nam Dan has the conditions to develop tourism, it is not at the right level when the locality still lacks typical tourism products with geographical indications.

“Quang Ninh has done very well in this regard. They have products such as squid, shrimp, crab, etc. that all have geographical indications,” a representative of the Department of Planning and Investment cited, and also assessed: “The structural transformation of Nam Dan is slow, and there is no outstanding economic model.”

Regarding agricultural development, Chief of the Provincial Party Committee Office Thai Thanh Quy, former Secretary of the Nam Dan District Party Committee, emphasized that the "bottleneck" of Nam Dan agriculture is that it has not yet attracted businesses to invest, develop in the direction of high technology as well as form production chains and consume agricultural products. "The difficulty is accumulating land, we must calculate to have land to attract businesses to invest in agriculture" - Comrade Thai Thanh Quy commented.

In the field of industry and handicrafts, although a number of projects have been attracted, the general assessment of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee presented by the Standing Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee Nguyen Lam Son showed that investment attraction is still limited, and product branding has not been given due attention. Small-scale industry has not developed strongly, and there are no high-quality products to meet the requirements of tourism. The work of developing craft villages and introducing new crafts into the area has not met the set targets.

Choose a direction

With the approval of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Nam Dan district has drafted a Resolution on the development directions and tasks of the district for the period 2017 - 2020, taking into account the year 2025, to submit to the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee for consideration and approval.

Notably, in the draft resolution, this locality sets the goal: "Economic development is rapid and sustainable in the direction of industry, construction, services, tourism, agriculture with a synchronous and gradually modernized economic-social infrastructure system". From the above analysis, based on the potential and strengths of Nam Dan, as well as in the context of the current economic development of the province, this orientation raises many concerns for delegates attending the meeting.

Harvesting rice with a combine harvester in Nam Dan. Photo archive.

The big question is what direction of development should Nam Dan take to be suitable? Commenting on the number of tourists coming to Nam Dan every year as well as its proximity to the service and industrial growth poles of the province, Vinh City and Hung Nguyen, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tien Lam said that Nam Dan should follow the direction of agricultural commodity production associated with trade, tourism and services to provide for tourists as well as the above localities.

To do so, Nam Dan must be determined to "remove" the traditional self-sufficient agricultural production, and instead must build an agricultural industry with traditional products and high-tech products.

“To do so, we must review the Nam Dan agricultural and forestry planning to orient production. We should invest in farmers who have the will to get rich, based on the more than 800 farms and households, to build them into model farms; at the same time, we must have resources to invest in research and arrange experts to apply high-tech agriculture,” Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam proposed.

Sharing the above viewpoint, Director of the Department of Tourism Nguyen Manh Cuong proposed that Nam Dan must re-plan services associated with tourism planning; as well as promote tourism promotion. "It is impossible to produce results immediately like doing math, but must promote and advertise in many forms. We must do it gradually, in addition to the promotion of the province, Nam Dan must also participate in promotion" - the head of the provincial tourism industry raised the issue...

The above views received agreement from many delegates attending the meeting.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh gave a directive speech at the working session with Nam Dan district. Photo by Thanh Duy.

The opinion of Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh is that, in the vision of regional connectivity with Vinh City and Hung Nguyen, in which one of the development axes of Vinh City is to the West, as well as attracting businesses will basically focus on the VSIP Nghe An Industrial, Urban and Service Park in Hung Nguyen; on the other hand, when the Hanoi - Vientiane (Laos) expressway is completed, it will also open up opportunities for Nam Dan to develop services and tourism.

Therefore, if comparing the reality and development vision between Nam Dan and Vinh City, Hung Nguyen District, this locality should not put the issue of industrial development first. From there, the Provincial Party Secretary suggested that Nam Dan should shape the development direction in order of priority, which is to restructure the economy, focusing on the agricultural sector towards goods, serving the market, associated with new rural construction, accelerating the development of tourism and services; attracting investment in labor-intensive light industry, high-tech industry, and electronics.

However, to implement the above issues, the Provincial Party Secretary also noted that first of all, it is necessary to do a good job of building a development space plan for the district: "The nature of planning is vision. Therefore, the district needs to quickly deploy specific planning to have a vision and development mindset."

On the other hand, if we want "the Resolution to come into life, there must be people to implement it", therefore, the Provincial Party Secretary emphasized that in the draft resolution, it is necessary to re-evaluate the district's personnel work to have solutions to arrange, assign, train and attract appropriate staff to improve the quality of staff to meet the requirements.

Building Nam Dan to develop to its full potential is the desire and responsibility not only of the Party Committee and people of the district, but also of the province and the whole country. The thematic meeting of the Provincial Party Secretary, leaders of departments, branches and sectors of the province with the Standing Committee of Nam Dan District Party Committee analyzed and clarified the issues raised on a dialectical basis, thereby suggesting the most suitable development vision for this locality.

This is an important preparatory step to issue a resolution on the direction and tasks for the development of Nam Dan with real quality, because the ultimate goal is that once the resolution is in place, the set goals must be achieved to build Nam Dan into a sustainable development.

Nhat Le