The plan is an important guideline and legal framework in operating, and managing socioeconomic development, and is also an opportunity for the province to exploit and utilise as many local capabilities and advantages as possible.

The plan sets goals; major and breakthrough tasks; development directions for key industries; socioeconomic activities; urban planning and rural territory organisation; solutions and resources available for development.

Coastal zones, tourism, production, logistics, hospitality – nothing will be left off the province’s agenda, photo Ho Ha

By 2030, Kien Giang aims to be a province with a high quality of life in the Mekong Delta and a marine economic centre of the country. Rach Gia, Ha Tien, and Phu Quoc are the main development triangle of the urban economy with nearby-sea trade and services.

Of these, Phu Quoc is a service centre with high-quality ecotourism, and national and international-level sea and island resort tourism, connecting to major economic centres in the region and the wider world. Rach Gia is a green commercial and service city, and Ha Tien is a heritage city.

After 2030, the Rach Gia coastal economic zone will be established as a general, multi-sector economic zone, with the development focus on trade, services, seaport logistics, urban service tourism, coastal industries, aquaculture and exploitation, renewable energies, and new marine economic sectors.

Kien Giang border gate economic zones (EZ) will also be established, including Ha Tien and Giang Thanh.

By 2050, Kien Giang will become a strongly developing marine economic centre of the country, an important gateway for traffic, and trade, and an international exchange hub. Meanwhile, Phu Quoc will be a centre of tourism, services, and unique sea-island ecotourism.

Key tasks to carry out

The key tasks and breakthroughs in the development of Kien Giang will be to develop the marine economy and promote tourism connections, investment, trade, production, and consumption between mainland and islands, especially in Phu Quoc. It is necessary to conduct marine farming, sustainable seafood exploitation, fisheries logistics services, seafood processing and renewable energy projects.

Phu Quoc will need a development breakthrough and preferential policies to mobilise and prioritise resources to enlarge some key industries and fields.

Development will be based on the sea with a creative and unique mindset, forming a modern urban-service space, suitable to natural conditions and capacities while protecting the environment.

The development will be applied to digital transformation, high technology in all socioeconomic activities, as well as building digital government to improve public administration and reform administrative procedures.

Kien Giang’s planning organises socioeconomic activities in four sub-regions: the Long Xuyen quadrangle, Western Hau River, U Minh Thuong, and the island region.

The Long Xuyen quadrangle will focus on urban development, border gate economy and commercial activities, high-quality services, exploitation industries, construction materials production, mechanics for agriculture and fisheries, and the energy industry.

The Western Hau River region will strengthen various agricultural and fishery processing industries, and labour-intensive manufacturing industries. This will be a strongly developed region in high-tech agriculture, specialising in high-quality rice production, fruit trees, and aquaculture.

The U Minh Thuong region will focus on combining agriculture-forestry-fishery models, providing raw materials for industrial development agricultural-forestry-fishery product processing, fisheries logistics, along with agricultural and ecological cultural tourism, and the landscape and biodiversity conservation area of U Minh Thuong National Park.

Finally, Phu Quoc and Kien Hai islands will boost a marine economy through commercial, service, and island tourism. It is necessary to develop island areas ecologically combined with protecting national parks and marine ecosystems. This region also has a special position in defence and security.

Economic corridor development

In addition to four socioeconomic sub-regions, three economic corridors will be built in Kien Giang.

The West Coast economic corridor will promote key marine economic sectors in accordance with the advantages of coastal districts. While the An Minh, An Bien, Chau Thanh, and Rach Gia coastal economic corridor based on the coastal road axis and the southern coastal corridor road will develop marine economic sectors such as renewable energies, fisheries clusters, marine fisheries, sea-island tourism, and urban areas.

The North-South economic corridor, based on Lo Te-Rach Soi Expressway axis and the National Highway No.80, plays an important role in trade between the province and other localities surrounding it. Giang Thanh-Ha Tien border corridor, based on the National Highway No.1 axis, will focus on the border gate economy in association with the formation of border cities and ensuring national defence.

The planning will also aim to develop functional areas in the province. Specifically, to develop the EZ system, the province will adjust and add the scope, scale, and nature to promote the potential advantages of Phu Quoc EZ and Ha Tien EZ.

Kien Giang will have five industrial parks by 2030 with a total area of about 840 hectares and 12 industrial clusters with a total area of almost 600ha. Such parks will include multiple sectors, with a focus on manufacturing and processing industries, high-tech, supporting industries, and environmentally friendly industries.

The province will continue to invest, renovate and upgrade infrastructure to develop tourist areas. Some potential tourist areas will be proposed for recognition, such as Dong Ho Lagoon, Mui Nai, Binh San Mountain, Hang Pagoda, and U Minh Thuong National Park ecotourism area.

To concretise development goals, the planning proposed six groups of solutions and resources for implementation: mobilising and using investment capital; human resource development; solutions on science, technology, and environment; solutions on policies for development cooperation; management and control of urban and rural development; organising and supervising the implementation of planning.