Building Buon Ma Thuot City as the Central Highlands Hub

19 August, 2024

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On the afternoon of August 18, in Buon Ma Thuot City, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage worked with the leaders of Dak Lak Province on socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security in the province during the first seven months of 2024.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage work with the leaders of Dak Lak Province. Photo: VGP

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that Dak Lak holds a particularly important position and role in politics, economics, society, national defense, security, and foreign affairs, being the center of the Central Highlands region.

The province boasts a young population and an abundant workforce, along with a historical and cultural heritage rich in identity. It is also endowed with vast and fertile land, abundant tourism resources, numerous historical sites, cultural attractions, and scenic landscapes. The socio-economic infrastructure is being invested in quite synchronously…

However, Dak Lak has not yet lived up to its position, role, and potential. There are limitations in infrastructure, and while there is much potential, the policies are restrictive. There are also latent risks regarding security and national defense. Dak Lak remains a “difficult” province in many fields, including education, healthcare, culture, infrastructure, human resources, and investment attraction…

In the first seven months, the province’s economic growth did not meet the set targets, and the implementation of the three national target programs was slow. Enterprises still faced many difficulties in production and business, and their scale remained small. The percentage of communes meeting the new rural standards was low, and the rate of poor and near-poor households according to the multidimensional poverty line was very high compared to the country and the Central Highlands region. Complaints and deforestation still occur…

The Prime Minister emphasized that Dak Lak must soon reach the country’s average level of fairly good, based on rapid and sustainable socio-economic development, ecological space expansion, and the promotion of the cultural identity of the ethnic groups. It should also become a distinctive and attractive destination for domestic and international tourists.

In this vision, Buon Ma Thuot City is the center of the Central Highlands, the gateway for the region’s integration and connection with the country and the world. Its people should enjoy a quality life with good social services, a guaranteed environment, and high income and employment opportunities.

Emphasizing the Spirit of “6 Strengthenings”

Going forward, the Prime Minister requested that the Party Committee, authorities, army, and people of Dak Lak Province implement the “6 Strengthenings,” which include strengthening the political trust of the people in the Party and their faith in the Party’s guidelines, policies, and directions; strengthening the great national unity among the 49 ethnic groups in the province and the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands region; and taking better care of the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minority people, leaving no one behind.

Additionally, they should strengthen the maintenance of peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and developing border relations with the motto of “good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and sustainable long-term stability”; strengthen the training of high-quality human resources for the province and the Central Highlands region; promote the shift of labor from rural and agricultural areas to industrial and urban areas; and strengthen national defense and security capabilities, firmly safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, national security, and social order and safety.

The Prime Minister directs specific orientations and tasks. Photo: VGP

According to the Prime Minister, the province should promote production and business, renew traditional growth drivers, and boost new ones. They should also mobilize resources for development to the maximum, improve the efficiency of investment promotion and utilization, and accelerate the disbursement of public investment, the three national target programs, and focus on investing in transport infrastructure connecting urban, tourism, and service infrastructure, and projects on disaster prevention, climate change response, environment, and innovation…

Dak Lak needs to effectively implement key transport projects in the province and the Central Highlands region to synchronously connect the North-South West high-speed road system, the Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot expressway, National Highway 27, with the urban road network of Buon Ma Thuot City. This will increase connectivity and efficiently exploit Buon Ma Thuot Airport, thereby promoting the province’s socio-economic development.

The province should also attract more investment in agriculture and rural areas, develop production according to value chains linked to product consumption, maintain and expand traditional craft villages in tandem with protecting the sustainable ecological environment, and develop forestry in conjunction with forest management, protection, restoration, and development. They should also increase revenue from forest environmental services and carbon credits, and develop tourism infrastructure to make tourism a spearhead economic sector.

The head of the government directed Dak Lak to promote the improvement of the business investment environment and support businesses, pay attention to developing the fields of culture, society, environmental protection, social security, and improving the material and spiritual lives of the people of all ethnic groups in the province. Additionally, focus on natural resource management, environmental protection, and response to climate change…

According to Dak Lak Province’s socio-economic development report, the estimated GRDP in the first six months of the year reached nearly VND 25,500 billion, up 4.13% over the same period in 2023. Specifically, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries increased by 4.38%; industry and construction increased by 4.52%; and services increased by 4.04%.

Mobilized social investment capital is estimated at over VND 15,600 billion, up 3.62% over the same period last year. As of July 31, 2024, the disbursement of public investment capital reached 38.9% of the plan, higher than the country’s average (32.2%), ranking first in the Central Highlands region and 13th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

Total state budget revenue balanced in the area reached nearly VND 4,500 billion, equivalent to 64.12% of the year plan assigned by the Central Government.

Export turnover in the first seven months of 2024 reached USD 1.13 billion, up 25.4% over the same period; import turnover reached USD 295 million, up 33.1%. Total retail sales of goods and services reached over VND 62,600 billion, up 9.52% over the same period.

Tung Phong