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Ninh Thuan master plan awaits PM's nod
Viet Nam's first provincial socio-economic development master plan created by two world renowned consultancy firms has been approved by leaders of central Ninh Thuan Province and is awaiting the nod from the Prime Minister.
Ninh Thuan's socio-economic development master plan to 2020 with a vision to 2030, which was developed on the basis of its nuclear industry, was presented to the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Ha Noi on Tuesday.
"This is the first province in Viet Nam to invite international consultants to construct its master plan. In the past, other provinces usually used proposals developed by domestic research institutes," said Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc.
The coastal province, 60km south of Cam Ranh Airport and 350km north of HCM City, would become Viet Nam's leading nuclear power centre, and needed a new orientation and vision fitting of its new status, he said.
The US$3-million master plan adopts the strategy of "accelerating economic growth" in the next 10 years with four targets: enhancing competitiveness, improving infrastructure, branding and capacity building, and boosting the competence of State agencies in the province.
The blueprint, conceived by Monitor Group from the US and Britain's ARUP, was based on a "diamond framework", a new approach in Viet Nam, to analyse what existed in the coastal central province today that would provide opportunities in the province tomorrow, said the provincial People's Committee deputy chairman, Do Huu Nghi.
The framework, developed by Professor Michael Porter from Havard Business School, was built on observations of regulations and the nature of consumer demand in the province, together with identifying the current stage of the province's development, which Monitor director Chris Malone said were "the most important sources of strength in the plan".
"At different stages of development, they need to focus on different things. So provinces like Ninh Thuan which are at an early stage of development need to focus on identifying the factors that already exist in the province and generating income from those factors, such as using the location or climate in order to generate tourism income," he said.
The province with more than half a million people decided to go for the "fast and sustainable growth" option, which consists of a 19 per cent increase in GDP per year, instead of normal growth of 13 per cent or substantial growth of 22 per cent that were also considered at the beginning.
Nghi said the decision was made after its consultants pointed out that targeted programmes and human resources training couldn't produce immediate results in the coming period.
With that model, Ninh Thuan is expected to reach GDP per capita of US$2,800 in 2020, or 85 per cent of the country's average, with industry and services accounting for 80 per cent of GDP.
The poor province, where average annual income is just over $510, would need VND260,000 billion ($13 billion) in the next ten years for such development.
A unique point about the master plan that differentiates it from others is that it outlines a number of investment projects and their implementation road maps designed to raise the capital.
"The consultants contacted potential investors while working on the master plan to ensure its feasibility," said Nghi.
ARUP's senior urban designer Slavis Poczebutas said the biggest challenge for them in the one year-long project was to achieve a balance between economic development and an "almost untouched beautiful countryside" with fertile agricultural land, WWF-preserved forests and a rich maritime ecosystem.
"The type of challenges that Ninh Thuan faces are challenges that we see all around Viet Nam. It's important how the country uses the coastal economy to create jobs and increase prosperity," said Malone.
How the province developed its economy in a way that would genuinely help the poor and cope with climate change was important at this stage of development, he said.
The consultant also said tourism and Viet Nam's first nuclear power plant, construction of which would start in 2014, would definitely be able to co-exist if there was an integrated plan in advance.
"There's more than 100km of coastline in Ninh Thuan. The tourism areas are located in the far north while the industrial zones and nuclear power plant will be located in the south," he said.
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