Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The Prime Minister of Vietnam Sunday praised the considerable success of economic development in the Central Highlands, and charted the course for the next five years to elevate development even further.

Presiding over a two day conference on the topic Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung said it was key to overcome the difficulties in restructuring the Central Highlands agriculture-based economy, as well as build further momentum with the forestry and ag-processing industries.

Reports delivered at the conference highlighted rapid changes in the region over the past five years.

Provinces in the region recorded an annual GDP growth rate of over 10 percent, an increase of 28.33 percent in budget collection, an average per capita income of 5.36 million VND a year, and a rise of 14.72 percent in trade and services turnover, he said.

So far 99.2 percent of the Central Highlands' communes are currently accessible by road, 98 percent are linked with the national electricity grid, and 52.5 percent of households have access to safe water.

Regarding education, the number of schools and classrooms has increased by 39 percent compared with the 2001-02 academic year, 99.24 percent of the communes have completed primary education and 32 percent of the communes, junior high education universalisation.

In healthcare, treatment at 71 percent of Central Highlands communes have run by doctors and free medical check-up cards have been issued to 1.43 million local people.

In the past five years, VND40.5 trillion VND (US$2.7 billion) in investment capital has been mobilised for the Central Highlands, of which more than VND18.3 trillion has come from the State Budget, representing an annual increase of 15.34 percent.

Substantial investment has been made in many other important projects including the Ho Chi Minh Highway, the Yun Ha irrigation network, the Ca Sam reservoir, the water supply and drainage systems in the cities of Da Lat and Buon Ma Thuot, and the construction of 3,430 classrooms.

In addition, more than VND22.7 trillion in credit capital and capital from other economic sectors has been provided for the region's electricity generation, farm processing and construction materials production.

During the same period, the rate of poor households has been reduced to 8.77 percent and 68.1 percent of the demand by ethnic minority households for housing and production land has been satisfied.

As many as 53,000 households now possess production land and 400,000 people have been provided with jobs, he said.

Downside

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc, the region has not devised proper policies to attract investors and mobilize capital sources for social development.

Mai Van Nam, Standing Deputy Director of the Central Highlands Steering Committee, attributed the existing weakness in the socio-economic development in the Central Highlands to the lack of an overall development policy for the entire region.

Although the industrial sector in the region has also developed, it has mainly focused on power production, and industrial products were of low competitiveness, the conference heard.

Investment capital for production relied too much on the exploitation of natural resources, and unplanned exploitation caused adverse impacts on the ecological environment.

Provincial solutions

At the conference, the representative of the Steering Committee from the provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dac Lac, Dac Nong and Lam Dong for the Central Highlands made an eight-point proposal.

They highlighted the idea of re-assessing the current production land fund and settlement, boosting employment, and developing specific policies to attract further investment and generate jobs.

Other proposed measures included restructuring production by ethnic minorities and guiding them in borrowing loans and applying modern production techniques, the representatives said.

They added that a key component to development in the region would be to send agriculture and forestry workers to villages to guide households experiencing difficulty in new production methods.

Source: Vietnam News Agency, VOV News, Thanh Nien News