Building Vinh into the Center of the North Central region

Nguyen Hoai An - Standing Deputy Secretary of Vinh City Party Committee

(Baonghean) - Vinh City - a place with a revolutionary tradition, with brave and patriotic people who have contributed to the nation's glorious feats in history. Today, promoting its potential and position as a Class I City, Vinh is gradually rising, affirming its role as the economic - political - cultural center of Nghe An and the center of the North Central region.

The land is "spacious, the climate is bright..."

Vinh City today is mainly located on the land of Vinh Yen and Yen Truong, Ngo Truong commune, Chan Loc district, the old Nghe An town. This is a land of talented people, rich in tradition since thousands of years. In 1788, when passing through Nghe An citadel, under the eyes of military genius Nguyen Hue, Vinh appeared as a place: "Spacious terrain, bright weather, can be chosen to build a new capital. What a beautiful place to build a capital". Although Phuong Hoang Trung Do - Vinh is still unfinished, it is an important milestone in the development process of the city.

Under the Nguyen Dynasty, Vinh became an important political and cultural center. After invading our country, the French colonialists recognized the special position of this locality on the North-South highway, so the Vinh - Ben Thuy - Truong Thi urban area was formed (1899). The French investment caused the towns to gradually grow up, completely changing the existing urban picture of Vinh in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Vinh at this time became a large-scale commercial center with many different industries; at the same time, it was the place where the industrial and transportation centers of the North Central region in particular and the Indochina Federation in general were concentrated. Those industrial economic sectors had a profound impact on the entire economy in the North Central region and Laos from the early 20th century until the August Revolution in 1945 broke out. Besides, Vinh always functions as a political - cultural, social and economic center, creating conditions for French capitalist corporations to invest here as well as in the Kingdom of Laos.

Hero in the struggle for independence, protection and construction of the City

The French colonialists' construction of Vinh into a large industrial center led to deep social division. The Vinh working class was soon formed, with a strong fighting spirit, high solidarity and discipline... which brought the patriotic movement in Vinh to a new stage. In February 1930, the Communist Party of Vietnam was born. The people of Vinh City, with an indomitable, brave and resilient spirit, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, rose up to fight against colonial and feudal domination. The 1930-1931 movement broke out with the beginning of "Kia Ben Thuy, stand up first..." which brought the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement into history. In August 1945, the August Revolution succeeded, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born, our nation entered a new page of history of independence and freedom. Peace had not been restored for long when the French colonialists returned to invade our country. Vinh stood side by side with the people of the whole country to wage a scorched earth resistance war with high political determination, making an important contribution to the victory of the nation. In 1954, peace was restored, and the North embarked on the period of building socialism. Recognizing the important position of Vinh, on October 10, 1963, the Government Council decided to upgrade Vinh town to Vinh City.

While the people and cadres of Vinh City were excitedly rebuilding their homeland, on August 5, 1964, the US imperialists bombed Vinh City and several other provinces, starting a destructive war in the North. Responding to President Ho Chi Minh's call: "The war may last 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, or longer. Hanoi, Hai Phong and several cities and enterprises may be destroyed. But the Vietnamese people are not afraid! Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom! When the day of victory comes, our people will rebuild our country to be more dignified and beautiful!", the Party Committee and people of Vinh City quickly changed the state from peacetime to wartime, organizing the evacuation of people, agencies, factories, enterprises, schools, etc.; both fighting to protect the city and organizing production, business and ensuring traffic, transporting people and goods to support the southern battlefield.

With a resilient and indomitable spirit, Vinh contributed to the whole country in defeating two air raids by the US imperialists. During this great resistance war, 14 groups and 9 individuals were awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces and Hero of Labor. In particular, the cadres and workers of Ben Thuy ferry were awarded the title of Hero twice; the people and cadres of Vinh City were awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the State. Defeated on both the North and South battlefields, the US imperialists had to sign the Paris Agreement on January 27, 1973, withdrawing their troops.

A corner of Vinh City in the afternoon. Photo: Quang Dai Bac

Towards the center of the North Central region...

Peace was restored in the North, with the attention of the Central Government and the wholehearted help of the socialist brother countries, Vinh was rebuilt. On the occasion of the International Labor Day on May 1, 1974, Deputy Prime Minister Do Muoi laid the first brick at the groundbreaking ceremony to rebuild the city.

After more than 20 years of implementing the renovation process, Vinh City has had many improvements, the urban appearance has changed, people's lives have been improved... On September 30, 2005, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 239/2005/QD-TTg approving the Project to develop Vinh City, Nghe An Province to become the economic and cultural center of the North Central region; in which the functions of the city are determined: "The function of being a growth locomotive and solving important tasks of economic development of the province and the North Central region; the function of a human resource training center and a key center for science - technology, culture - sports and health of the region; the function of an industrial center of the region for the general industrial development of the North Central region; the function of a commercial, tourism and other service center with strong impacts on the North Central region; the function of a traffic hub, an important entrance and exit of the North Central region, the whole country and internationally". Those orientations have become the legal basis, creating momentum for the city's development.

After 10 years of implementing Conclusion 20-KL/T.TW of the Politburo and 7 years of implementing Decision 239-QD/TTg of the Prime Minister, Vinh City has strived to achieve many important results. Notably: The average economic growth rate in the period of 2006-2012 reached 14.5%. The economic structure shifted in the right direction, the proportion of the service industry increased rapidly. The total social investment capital in the period of 2006-2012 reached 41,894 billion VND, an average annual increase of 17.9%. The average income per capita increased rapidly, from 15.6 million VND in 2005 to 50.6 million VND in 2012. The work of planning and planning management was focused on direction and implementation. Some areas have initially converged the basic elements to become regional centers such as: culture - society, education - training, health, telecommunications, finance - banking, services - trade...

The number of financial services has increased rapidly; the quality of services has been improved, and the types have been diversified. Initially, a regional financial and banking service center has been formed with 49 bank branches, including 2 level 1 branches.

Education and training have developed strongly. A network and scale of schools from kindergarten to university, college, and basic vocational training have been established to meet the learning needs of children in the city, province, and region, demonstrating the position of the center of education and training in the North Central region. The city currently has 5 universities, 6 colleges, and 15 vocational secondary schools with a training scale of over 60,000 students. Up to now, the whole city has 60 national standard schools, reaching a rate of 70%. Vinh is always the leading unit in the rate of students passing university - college entrance exams, national excellent students, ...

The health sector has made many advances, gradually affirming its function as a health care center and medical examination and treatment center for the people of the region. The quality of the medical staff has been improved, and the health sector's facilities have been strengthened. From only 4 public hospitals, a system of public and private hospitals has been formed; a number of high-tech, specialized medical facilities have been initially formed. Some hospitals have been recognized and planned by the Ministry of Health as hospitals in the North Central region such as Nghe An General Hospital, Oncology Hospital, and Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital.

Investment in basic construction and development of urban infrastructure has been promoted. The city has focused on developing, upgrading and expanding the external and internal transport systems. Completed investment in construction of National Highway 1, Vinh bypass section in the west of the city, Lam River road, Ben Thuy II bridge... Vinh airport has opened more domestic flights and will become an international airport in the future; upgraded Vinh station to a class 1 station; upgraded Cua Lo port, is implementing the construction of Bac Vinh and Nam Vinh bus stations, planning the system of traffic intersections, overpasses... gradually affirming its function as a traffic hub, an important entrance and exit of the North Central region, the whole country and internationally. According to Decision 239 of the Prime Minister, Vinh urban space will be expanded in accordance with the rapid growth of the city's economy and population as well as the functions of the regional urban area. The city's development direction is to the North and Northeast. It is expected that after the expansion, the boundary of Vinh City to the North is Nam Cam Street, to the West is Vinh bypass, to the South is Lam River and to the East is the East Sea. The area of ​​Vinh City is expected to expand to over 250 km2.

Recognizing the important position of Nghe An and Vinh City in the development of the North Central region in particular and the whole country in general, on July 30, 2013, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 26-NQ/T.U on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An province until 2020. This is an important resolution demonstrating the special attention of the Politburo to Nghe An - the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, including policies and strategies to invest resources to develop Vinh City in all aspects. This is an honor and development opportunity for the city, and at the same time, it also requires the Party Committee, government and people of the city to uphold their sense of responsibility, truly worthy of the attention that the Politburo, the Central Party Committee and the Government have given to Nghe An and Vinh City.

Therefore, in the coming time, the Party Committee and people of Vinh City vow to unite and be determined to promote the tradition of 220 years of Phoenix Trung Do, 50 years of Heroic Red City, 5 years of Type I urban area, creatively apply the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress, the socio-economic development strategy for 2011-2020, the resolutions of the Central Committee, the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, the Resolution of the 22nd City Party Congress, especially focus all resources and strength to realize the general goal of building Vinh City by 2020 to become the center of the North Central region in finance, trade, tourism, science - technology, information technology, high-tech industry, health care, culture, sports, education - training as Resolution 26 of the Politburo has set out.

HA