The province’s famous caves are just the cherry on top of its vast tourism potential Photo: Tran Tuan Viet

At last week’s Hanoi conference on the Quang Binh master plan, Kim Tae Hoon, member of the Steering Committee of the Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam, discussed the province’s various strengths in terms of developing investor opportunities.

“For example, energy plays a major and vital role in local economic development, which will be the key industry for the acceleration of the local economy in the future. Energies, including wind power, hydroelectricity, and solar power projects are becoming a critical part of Vietnam’s fast-growing economy,” he said.

Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation in Hanoi, said that Quang Binh was an appropriate area to develop renewable energy projects, such as wind power and solar power.

“The fields of tourism and sustainable development, manufacturing and logistics are also promising within the province,” Nakajima said.

The provincial master plan for the next decade focuses on four economic development pillars, two growth-driving centres, three urban centres, and three economic corridors.

“This is a formula to create a breakthrough for Quang Binh’s economy,” said Vu Dai Thang, Secretary of Quang Binh Party Committee.

Specifically, the four pillars of Quang Binh’s economic development are tourism and services, industry, high-tech agriculture, and the marine economy. The two growth-driving centres of the province are Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hon La Economic Zone.

The three urban centres include Dong Hoi and its surrounding areas, the northern urban area of Ba Don and to the south, the urban area of Kien Giang. The last important factor in Quang Binh’s formula is the three economic corridors: the coastal delta economic corridor; the east-west economic corridor connecting Cha Lo international border gate with Ba Don town, Hon La Seaport, and the midlands; and the mountainous economic corridor that connects with Ho Chi Minh Highway and the North-South Expressway.

Phan Duc Hieu, a standing member of the National Assembly Economic Committee, said, “Before making decisions, investors always want to know what the provincial government plans to do, and which sectors and areas will be promoted. The early planning has clearly shown the development strategy and direction of Quang Binh. Therefore, they will know what they should do in the next 5-10 years.”

Economist Tran Dinh Thien said, “We should find a way to turn the vast arid sandy lands, sunshine, and wind into a valuable resource for developing renewable energies, as well as building golf courses and unique tourism areas. We should turn the land of limestone mountains into the land of first-class caves, just as Quang Ninh has promoted Halong Bay, and Ninh Thuan has taken advantage of its sand, sun, and wind.”

At last week’s conference, Quang Binh People’s Committee awarded investment agreements to 32 projects with valued at $5 billion.

Specifically, three of the deals involve infrastructure projects worth $506 million; 17 are in real estate, reporting $1.41 billion in total capital; and five in sports and tourism are worth $144.34 million.

In addition, provincial leaders also granted cooperation agreements for six projects in industry, mining, and energy valued at $2.79 billion, and one in agriculture worth $17.4 million.

For domestic ventures, Quang Binh will give priority to investments from large corporations, especially those in the top 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam from the manufacturing, processing, tourism, and logistics industries.

Regarding the criteria to select investors, Quang Binh prioritises attracting foreign investors with globally known brands, large financial capacities, and stable and long-term investment policies and will refuse labour-intensive, non-technological projects that may disrupt the region’s labour supply.

To accelerate the implementation of various projects, Quang Binh has made a series of key commitments to accompany businesses throughout the province.

“We are committed to doing our best to create an equal, favourable, substantive, efficient and quick investment environment, to turn our potential and advantages into concrete and practical results,” said Thang.

Le Quang Vinh - Vice chairman Vietcombank

The province’s plan for this year and beyond offers a specific vision for implementing long-term strategies and promoting growth.

The potential of the province is available, and we see that the province is successful in switching the economic model based on four backbones, namely tourist, industry, high-tech agriculture, and marine economy.

Vietcombank is a pioneer in sponsoring capital for key national projects located in Quang Binh, such as the $1.17 billion Quang Trach 1 thermal power plant from Electricity of Vietnam.

Vietcombank will disburse this capital soon to take the construction on schedule, which will contribute to ensuring national energy security and the province’s socioeconomic development.

Furthermore, we arranged capital for the production and business activity and the construction of other crucial infrastructure projects, such as wind farms BT2 and BT3, which have a total capacity of 142MW and sponsored capital of $143.5 million.

Le Quynh Mai - Vice chairman Deo Ca Group JSC

The group sees a large potential of the province and also understands the transport infrastructure will be one of the backbones to promote this potential.

After studying carefully, Deo Ca and partners proposed to develop a six-lane, 20-km road as a tourist route linking Dong Hoi town with Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park under the public-private partnership method. The project will cost just over $100 million.

It will create space for the socioeconomic development of Dong Hoi town and Bo Trach district as well as a connection between the Bung-Van Ninh Expressway, downtown Dong Hoi, and Bo Trach Beach. In doing so, it would promote sea-based tourism among both domestic and foreign holidaymakers, simultaneously path the way for the development of logistics and industrial zones (IZs).

Along with this project, Deo Ca also has enough experience and capacity to participate in a wide range of infrastructure projects. With the support of the province, we believe that the project will be implemented in the near future to contribute an important part to completing the transport infrastructure network serving the province’s socioeconomic development.

Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen - Deputy general director Capella Land JSC

Capella Land received the investment cooperation agreement from the provincial leaders for the urban-service area for Cam Lien IZ, which shows the long-term investment commitment in the province. The project will cover 45 hectares with capital of $70 million.

The project will provide the synchronous infrastructure to meet the production and business needs of enterprises in the IZ.

Quang Binh has the potential to attract investment and develop its industrial sector as it benefits from abundant land, available raw materials, and good infrastructure. The province has increasingly focused on synchronous infrastructure investment.

We receive eager support from provincial authorities during the process to complete investment procedures for projects, which is a driving force for our expansion in the province.