Can Tho city’s general planning for 2021-2030 has just been approved. How do you assess the fresh opportunities for the city to accelerate development?

Tran Viet Truong, Chairman of Can Tho People's Committee

Can Tho city’s planning has been developed and approved aligned with the national master planning, national sectoral planning, the Mekong Delta region planning at the provincial level in terms of space for social and economic activities, defence and security, urban system and rural population distribution, infrastructure, land allocation, resource use and environmental protection.

The goal is to develop Can Tho city “as the growth pole of the Mekong Delta region; an ecological, civilised and modern city imbued with distinct cultural identity of the Western Capital (Tay Do); as well as the centre for tourism, logistics, processing industry, high-tech agriculture, education and training, specialised healthcare, and more.

At the same time, the planning has built a spatial development framework, creating a foundation for synchronous, unified and effective construction and connection.

Planning also aims to optimise and ensure feasibility and sustainability in management, protection, exploitation and use of resources for development; prioritising the development and application of science and technology to adapt to climate change and minimise negative impacts from natural disasters.

At the same time, the fresh scheme lays the basis for businesses, the communities and people to invest, do business, live and work; contributing to creating more jobs, stabilising livelihoods, and improving people's lives.

What opportunities will the plan bring to businesses and investors?

As a Grade 1 city directly under the central government and a regional urban centre, Can Tho has garnered huge attention for investment and development in the forthcoming period.

The city is on the verge of promoting growth model transformation and economic sector restructuring process; its infrastructure system is increasingly enticing investment attention, institutions are being perfected, and human resources are increasingly developed.

Part of Can Tho city

Can Tho has witnessed multiple development opportunities through key projects and preferential policies approved under Resolution 45/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific development policies for Can Tho city.

In particular, amid the challenge of climate change, the Party and the state have paid special attention to the delta region in general and Can Tho in particular, particularly since the enactment of governmental Resolution 120/NQ-CP on “Sustainable development of the Mekong delta adapting to climate change."

Exports, investment and technology transfer are being promoted thanks to globalisation; free trade agreements create myriad opportunities to improve quality and bolster competitiveness. Can Tho as the centre of the delta region will have the opportunity to affirm its role as a major logistics hub for import and export and international integration of the region; from there creating numerous opportunities to entice investors from other countries, especially from Europe, to the city.

Can you share more about the city's investment attraction policies?

Regarding investment attraction, for the industrial sector, Can Tho focuses on attracting projects that boost productivity, quality, efficiency, promoting effective use and regeneration of resources, energy, and environmental friendliness with a high level of knowledge.

By 2030, Can Tho aims to host seven more IZs

Priority is given to attracting projects in key areas of the city, including agricultural product processing, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, component manufacturing, and electronic equipment; prioritising the phases that create high added value and useless human resources and resources.

For the trade and service industry, focusing on key service industries was identified during the planning period, such as trade, logistics services, meetings industry tourism and ecotourism.

Particularly, paying due heed to logistics projects, such as forming cold storage systems, distribution systems, logistics centres and seaports to be able to soon solve existing bottlenecks of Can Tho, is critical.

Tackling bottlenecks in logistics infrastructure is key to helping Can Tho best avail of free trade agreement benefits, attract more businesses to the city, and solve employment problems.

With agriculture and fisheries, the city prioritises projects related to the application of new and high-tech techniques in agriculture, helping to boost productivity and mitigate the impact of agricultural production on the environment.

What key tasks and solutions will Can Tho focus on to meet its plans?

In order for the planning to be soon realised, the city has proposed radical and solutions to tackle impediments in the previous planning period, while at the same time promoting the city's existing potential and advantages to effectively expedite the plan.

Accordingly, efforts shall gear towards ensuring sufficient capital to meet the requirements, along with improving investment efficiency aligned to the motto ‘taking public investment to lead equity investment’.

In addition, boosting mobilisation of capital from domestic and foreign investors, improving the local business environment, and enhancing the city's provincial competitiveness is key.

Presenting policies and mechanisms to promote development linkages is important in three aspects: international cooperation, regional linkages and nationwide connections.

In addition to the above solutions, the city also identifies a number of key tasks and development breakthroughs: strongly innovate the management mindset of local governments at all levels; doing business mindset associated with implementing digital transformation based on digital economy, digital society, and digital government; and attracting and developing human resources in key fields.

It is also crucial to strengthen links with training institutions and specialised research institutions at home and abroad to realise development goals.