The province is taking part in the OCOP programme to categorise products under a star system

Visitors to Hai Duong in the lead up to the Lunar New Year will find joyful and colourful vibes, all streets decorated with flags and festive plants lined up along the pavements. It is a far cry from last spring’s hibernation spirit – factories have ramped up production again, construction sites are energetic with new projects, and people are excited to prepare for a fun-filled holiday season.

Hai Duong saw some relief from the pandemic woes last year compared to 2020. From a modest growth of just 2.1 per cent in that year, the province was hit with a COVID-19 storm, causing negative growth in 2021’s first quarter. By the end of June, the province’s GDP expanded 3.9 per cent before swelling to 8.6 per cent for the whole year.

At a recent year-end meeting, Pham Xuan Thang, member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of Hai Duong Party Committee, recalled the tough past. “We had to envision the province’s long-term development, from there fuelling the development aspirations of all residents,” Thang noted.

Shortly after the challenges were identified, the province’s economic growth scenario was revised in a timely and flexible manner. New factors to drive growth momentum in the new year as well as for the long term were presented and immediately implemented. The well-crafted strategy on transport infrastructure and socioeconomic infrastructure development, as well as moves in digital transformation, have become prominent highlights in Hai Duong’s economic management policy.

Along with this, Hai Duong is set to create a large and clean land fund, and give it to reputable investors. In 2021, the province completed six new industrial zone (IZ) infrastructure projects with a total area of 1,176 hectares, along with establishing a number of industrial clusters.

The total industrial land area available for investment now surpasses 2,000ha. Before 2030, Hai Duong envisages developing 15 new IZs across over 10,000ha. In particular, the province is planning a dynamic IZ in Binh Giang and Thanh Mien districts to leverage all the advantages.

Hai Duong’s efforts have garnered appreciation from the investor community, particularly those such as Kim Sungsoo, general director of South Korean-backed smart auto devices manufacturer Hyundai Kefico Vietnam Co., Ltd., which is based in the province’s Dai An IZ. Since the company made recommendations on specific preferential policies, the expectations of infrastructure upgrades to compete with neighbouring provinces and cities have been gradually materialised.

Hai Duong has many specialities that it wants to promote to a wider audience, Photo: Thanh Son

Laying the nest

The desire to set up a new position for the tradition-rich province has placed greater demands and pressure on the provincial government than ever before, demanding unprecedented fast and powerful actions.

Following the theme of “Flexible adaptation, breakthrough growth” in 2022, Hai Duong is determined to reach double-digit growth, with local budget revenue up by at least 10 per cent compared to the set plan.

Party Secretary Thang explained that Hai Duong has identified three breakthroughs to pave the way for big capital inflows. First is drastically improving the local investment and business environment to attract large domestic and foreign investors; second is mobilising diverse resources to ensure synchronous and modern infrastructure; and last is improving human resource quality, creating strong innovation in provincial leaders.

Hai Duong has actively promoted investment and managed to break the bottlenecks in transport infrastructure to bolster inter-regional connectivity. Along with this, leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation have become partners, investing more than VND670 billion ($29.1 million) to help bridge Hai Duong with Hanoi-Haiphong Expressway. These two interchanges connecting the provincial roads No.390 and No.392 in Binh Giang district with the expressway started construction together with the east-west backbone project at the start of 2022.

Hai Duong has also joined efforts in building bridges and roads connecting with Bac Giang province (Dong Viet Bridge), Bac Ninh province (Kenh Vang Bridge), and Thai Binh province (An Dong Bridge), in parallel to upgrading the roads heading to other localities in the neighbourhood like Quang Ninh, Haiphong, and Hung Yen. The roads belonging to the province’s east-west backbone in Kim Thanh and Thanh Mien districts are also subject to capital injections for expansion. These are all expected to build up perfect regional connections for the province.

According to Thang, to ensure administrative reforms, the province should not only correct regulations but also improve human resource quality. Therefore, on the busiest last days of the year, Hai Duong’s top leader has worked with the Law Faculty under the Vietnam National University to propose cooperation on management skill improvement and legal policy updates for Hai Duong’s contingent of cadres, civil servants, and public employees.

“Innovation must come from the leaders and managers at all levels to create strong spillover effects. Hai Duong Party Committee has therefore set out specific mottos in the management of cadres to ensure transparency and utmost efficiency,” said Thang.

Lifting development

Hai Duong has enormous potential for development. Hence, to effectively leverage these advantages, unleashing domestic and foreign investment capital flows as well as expanding foreign relations are some of the critical solutions Hai Duong Party Committee has shown a strong commitment to.

“To gain investors’ trust to stay with the locality, create new values, and succeed together, we have shared our will and desire to grow with investors,” said Thang. “The government’s commitment to development, openness, and making progress must be shown by daily actions. It is mandatory to drastically reform administrative procedures, improve discipline, and prioritise enterprise development in order to serve the people, and accompany businesses.”

After the joint recommendation of Hai Duong’s leaders with the government in tackling tax problems and facilitating procedures associated with licensing the Ford Ranger car production line, the US automobile group has committed to putting another car line into assembly at its Hai Duong factory this year.

After the visit of Secretary Thang in an entourage of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to South Korea and India, Daewoo E&C then visited Hai Duong to land an MoU in cooperation with the province. The MoU proposed the development of Gia Loc Industrial Park in the direction of integrating it with the urban area and proposed building a world-class smart city in Hai Duong.

In addition, an Indian investor in the pharmaceutical industry has a plan to come to Hai Duong to survey and deploy an MoU to invest in a large-scale pharma production area.

Hai Duong is now home to a series of leading players, including Nam Cuong, FLC Group, T&T Group, Thanh Cong, Hoang Long Habico, Au Viet Group, Apec Group, Ngoc Son Riverside, and IDJ Vietnam, to name but a few. The investors have embarked on implementing new urban areas and eco-resort projects in the province, contributing to building and changing Hai Duong’s face towards modernity and smartness.