Quyết định 252/QD-TTg

DECISION

APPROVING THE MASTER PLAN ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION THROUGH 2020, WITH ORIENTATIONS TOWARD 2030 (*)

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 92/2006/ND-CP of September 7, 2006, on the formulation, approval and management of socio-economic development master plans; and the Government’s Decree No. 04/2008/ND-CP of January 11, 2008, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 92/2006/ND-CP of September 7, 2006;

At the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the master plan on socio-economic development of the southern key economic region through 2020, with orientations toward 2030, with the following principal contents:

I. POSITION AND ROLE

- The southern key economic region (embracing Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, "Long An and Tien Giang) is a region of dynamic economic development with a high and sustainable economic growth, taking the lead in the national industrialization and modernization, is the locomotive of economic development of the whole country; assumes the role of linking with the Mekong delta and the Central Highlands; and takes the lead in the integration into, expansion of trade and effective economic cooperation with other countries in Southeast Asia and around the world.

- The southern key economic region takes the lead in the development of a number of advanced manufacturing industries and services, especially the manufacture of electronic components, software production and trade, logistics, financial, telecommunications and tourist services, contributing to raising the quality, effectiveness and international competitiveness, creating a momentum for the process of national socio-economic development.

- The southern key economic region, with Ho Chi Minh City being its core, is a service center of Southeast Asian caliber for finance, trade, tourism and international exchange.

- The southern key economic region is a center of education and training of human resources, particularly high-quality human resources for the neighboring regions and the whole country; and at the same time a leading center for science and technology transfer and application in the country.

II. DEVELOPMENT VIEWPOINTS AND OBJECTIVES

1. Development viewpoints

- The master plan on socio-economic development of the southern key economic region through 2020 must be in conformity with the national socio-economic development strategy and in consistency with sectoral master plans. The southern key economic region will develop into a development-driving region with a socio-economic development rate higher than the national average level and become a major economic, financial and commercial hub of the whole country and the outer region.

- To make the most of the potential and advantages of localities in the region, especially the advantages in industrial manufacture and service. The southern key economic region must take the lead in the cause of national industrialization and modernization, with Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Binh Duong provinces being the key localities playing the role of driving and spreading development to other localities in the region and around the country.

- To restructure the region’s economy toward higher effectiveness and competitiveness, concentrate investment on industries with potential, advantages, and high productivity and knowledge content, along with V stepping up association among economic branches and sectors and among localities.

- To concentrate on training and development of high-quality human resources to meet the international integration requirements of the region and the whole country. To improve the quality and expand the scope of training with an appropriate structure of trained disciplines and training levels in various forms.

- To combine economic development with assurance of social equality and effective settlement of pressing social issues, improvement of the people’s material and spiritual lives and narrowing of the living-standard gap between different localities in the region, especially for the poor and ethnic minority inhabitants.

- Development must be sustainable and harmonious in terms of economic development, social development, eco-environment improvement and forest protection and development; industrial development must be linked with protection of urban environment, water sources and air.

- Socio-economic development must be linked with strengthening the defense and security potential and ensuring political stability and social order and safety.

2. Development objectives

a/ Objectives through 2020:

- Overall objective: To develop the southern key economic region into a region of dynamic development with high quality and sustainable growth, which will be a locomotive of economic development; a high-quality economic, commercial, cultural, training, health and scientific research center of the whole country and the outer region; and will have a harmonious economic structure and development space; an integrated urban system of national and regional levels, with Ho Chi Minh City being an integrated and multi-function economic center with a modem and synchronous technical infrastructure system on a par with those of regional countries.

- Specific objectives:

+ Economic development:

. The GDP growth rate will be 8 - 8.5% in the 2011-2015 period and 8.5 - 9% in the 2016-2020 period. By 2020, industry, construction and services will account for 95 - 96% of GDP, with the share of services reaching about 44%. The average per-capita GDP will reach USD 3,900 - 4,000 by 2015, and more than USD 5,000 by 2020.

. The average per-capita export value will rise to USD 3,700 and USD 5,400 by 2015 and 2020, respectively. To contribute 55 - 60% of national budget revenues during 2011 - 2020. The average technological renovation rate will be 20%/year and the rate of trained labor will reach around 85% by 2020.

+ Social development:

. By 2020, the population will be stable at 21 - 22 million; the urbanization rate will be 65%. To generate jobs for 340,000 - 350,000 people per year; to keep the urban unemployment rate at below 4%. To reduce the rate of poor households by around 2% on average per year.

. To strive to have 400 and 450 students with high qualifications per 10,000 people by 2015 and 2020, respectively. To improve one step the people’s health, and reduce the rate of underweight under-five children to below 10% by 2015, and 8% by 2020.

+ Environmental protection:

. The coverage of forests and perennial frees will reach over 45% by 2020.

. By 2015: 100% of newly built production facilities will apply clean technology or be furnished with less polluting equipment satisfying environmental standards; 100% of operating industrial parks will have centralized wastewater treatment systems; 95% of solid waste will be collected, and over 90% of hazardous waste and 100% of hospital waste will be treated. By 2020, 100% of production and business facilities will satisfy environmental standards; and 100% of solid waste and hazardous waste will be treated.

. The rates of rural population and urban population having access to hygienic water will reach 96% and 97% by 2015, and 98% and 99% by 2020, respectively.

+ Security and defense:

. To strengthen political security and social order at grassroots level, prevent and combat social evils; to build the all people to protect national security movement, and strive to build localities in the region into civilized and polite areas with healthy cultural and social lives.

. To increase propaganda and education and mobilize people to strictly abide by the State’s laws in order to curb and reduce traffic accidents.

. To firmly maintain political stability and social order and safety in the region, and strengthen the defense and security potential in combination with socio-economic development.

b/ Orientations toward 2030:

- Overall vision:

By 2030, the southern key economic region will continue to be an region of dynamic economic development with high growth quality and a typical model of sustainable development, taking the lead in the development of the knowledge economy; a locomotive of economic development of the whole country and an economic center of the outer region and Asia; an international-level commercial, financial and service center, with a focus on developing Vung Tau into a tourist city; a hi-tech industrial hub with high specialization level, and at the same time a high-quality cultural, training and health center and a locality with good landscape and environment. The region will have a modem economic structure and reasonable spatial structure, be a cluster of large urban centers with national-level integrated urban functions, in which Ho Chi Minh City will be an integrated multi-function economic center with a modem and synchronous infrastructure system and a system of high-level cultural, education and training, science and technology, health and physical training and sports facilities compared to those of the outer region and the country.

- Specific fields:

+ Economy: The average GDP growth rate will be 8 - 8.5% per year in the 2021 -2030 period. The GDP by 2030 will be around 2.2 times that of 2020. The average per-capita GDP will reach some USD 12,200 by 2030. The economic structure will be shifted toward sustainability, forming and developing the knowledge economy. The share of services will be over 50% by 2030. The export value growth rate will reach 8 - 10%/year during the 2020 - 2030 period.

+ Social development:

. The population will be around 25 million by 2030. The urbanization rate will be 75 - 80%. The rate of trained labor will be about 90%. The workforce in the service and industry-construction sectors will account over 90% of total workforce. To generate 200,000 - 220,000 jobs on average per year during the 2021 - 2030 period. To keep the urban unemployment rate at 3.5% by 2030; to increase the use effectiveness of working time in rural areas.

. The people’s health in the region will be considerably improved in both physical status and stature with the average life expectancy reaching 78-80 years. The malnutrition rate among under-five children will fall to below 3%.

. Traditional culture and tangible and intangible cultural heritages will be conserved. Large, modem cultural works typical of the region will be designed and constructed. The social security network will be extensive, diversified and effective. The rate of poor households will be about 2% and over 70% of laborers will participate in social insurance.

+ Urban infrastructure:

. The region will have a synchronous and modem transport infrastructure system, a diversified, civilized and safe mass transit system linking Ho Chi Minh City and satellite urban centers, rural districts and urban centers outside the region.

. 100% of people will have houses with necessary amenities suitable to the socio­economic development level of each province and city in the region, with the per- capita housing area in urban areas reaching 20 - 25 square meters. Housing and land in rural areas will be rationally planned with good living environment and convenient working conditions according to the criteria for building a new countryside.

. To modernize the power network system to ensure efficient and safe operation; to put underground 100% of electric and communication cables in cities and towns; to build lighting systems in urban centers up to standards. More than 70% of the population will use the Internet. 100% of households will be supplied with clean water. To basically tackle inundation in urban areas.

+ Environment: To build complete garbage, waste and wastewater treatment systems meeting environmental standards. To rationally and efficiently use natural resources, landscapes and development space in a sustainable manner.

III. ORIENTATIONS FOR SECTORAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Industry:

To strongly develop industries that create high added-value products and supporting industries. To strive to increase the industrial growth rate to 8.5 - 9% in the 2011 - 2015 period and 8.5 - 9% in the 2016 - 2020 period; to increase the proportion of industry and construction in the GDP to about 49% by 2020.

- To give priority to quickly developing hi-tech and clean industries that save materials and energy and create high added value. To vigorously shift from extensive industrial development to development of modem industries with high scientific and technological content. To give priority to developing electronics and information industries into spearhead industries. To vigorously develop supporting industries in order to raise the proactiveness in production and the national value in products, such as manufacture of parts and accessories for repair and maintenance.

- To continue to develop some advantageous industries such as oil and gas, steel, mechanical engineering, electricity, fertilizers, chemicals, construction materials, processing of agricultural, forest and aquatic products, foodstuffs, consumer goods, textiles and garments, footwear and plastics.

- To promote investment in the construction of industrial parks and export processing zones according to planning. To complete infrastructure facilities inside and outside industrial parks in connection with synchronously building new residential points in conformity with the urban development master plan of each locality in order to ensure living conditions for workers. To form an industrial and urban belt of the region, and restrict development of more industrial parks in the center of Ho Chi Minh City; to gradually relocate industrial facilities to localities with development potential, particularly Tay Ninh, Long An, Binh Phuoc and Tien Giang provinces. To create favorable conditions on land and external infrastructure facilities for development of large-scale industrial, service and urban center complexes after the hi-tech city model in Long Thanh, Phu My new city and Binh Duong industrial, service and urban complex.

2. Services:

To develop services with a high rate, high quality and sustainability. To strive to increase the service sector’s growth rate to 10 - 10.5% per year in the 2011 - 2015 period, and 8.5 - 9% in the 2016 - 2020 period; to increase the share of the service sector in the region’s GDP to 49 - 50% by 2020.

- To concentrate on developing the services: Finance, banking, insurance; international transport and forwarding; telecommunications and information technology; tourism; health (especially hi-tech health services); education and training.

- To develop the real estate, capital and securities markets. To set up modem, synchronous and reasonable trade infrastructure facilities in order to develop distribution services, including marketplaces, supermarkets, trade centers, storehouses, etc.

- To build Ho Chi Minh City as the core to become a service center of Southeast Asian caliber, develop synchronously financial, banking, trade, tourism, international exchange, telecommunications and ocean shipping services. To develop Vung Tau city into a national- and international-level tourist center and an oil and gas exploitation service center. To build Bien Hoa and Thu Dau Mot into large industrial development centers. The towns and provincial cities of Tay Ninh, Dong Xoai, Tan An and My Tho will become service centers connected with the provinces of the Central Highlands and Mekong delta. To synchronously build border-gate economic zones in Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc and Long An, consisting of bonded warehouse systems, clusters of storehouses for goods temporarily imported for re-export, cargo inspection yards, etc., in order to boost trade and import and export relations with Cambodia and other regional countries.

- To develop tourism into an important industry, making active contributions to the process of restructuring the regional economy. To forge ahead the sustainable growth of tourism, create substantive improvement in service quality, and build the image for the southern key economic region to be a safe and friendly destination with many diverse and attractive tourist products. To synchronously develop tourism, both domestic and international tourism, ensuring high economic, political and social benefits; to take development of international tourism as a long-term strategic direction and domestic tourism as the key. To concentrate on developing MICE tourism linked with culture, festivals and recreation; seaside tourism, weekend recreation tourism, sports and shopping tourism and border gate-linked tourism. To complete the planning of national tourist zones and sites in the region. By 2015 the southern key economic region will receive around 18 million tourist arrivals, including 4.5 million international tourists, and these figures will be 21.5 million and 5.5 million by 2020, respectively. Total earnings from tourism will reach USD 3.2 billion and about USD 5.3 billion by 2015 and 2020, respectively.

3. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries:

- To develop a comprehensive and sustainable agriculture in the southern key economic region toward large-scale commodity production with modem production organization models and techniques. To attach importance to developing ecological and environment-friendly agriculture and increasing product quality. To speed up the restructuring of agriculture and rural areas toward industrialization and modernization and higher economic effectiveness per unit of acreage.

- To vigorously change the internal structure of agriculture toward modernity and higher value of commodities; to develop agriculture along with building a new countryside and improving the quality of rural people’s material and spiritual lives. To extensively apply science and technology in the stages of production, processing and post-harvest preservation of products. To build the region into a national breeding center with facilities for research and application of advanced technologies and techniques, acting as the focal point in receiving and transferring technologies in agriculture; to build brands for a number of competitive and typical farm products of the region.

- To establish stable forest estates along the line of developing forests together with long-term industrial trees, contributing to improving the eco-environment and ensuring sustainable development; to consolidate and protect the system of riverhead protection forests for hydropower reservoirs and plants, and environmental protection forests for industrial parks and major cities and coastal protection. To protect forests to conserve the flora and fauna systems, biodiversity, and rare and precious gene sources, especially riverhead forests, coastal wind- and tide-shielding forests and mangrove forests.

- To expand aquaculture using intensive and semi-intensive farming methods. To diversify the product structure and increase effectiveness in the fishing, processing and rearing aquatic and marine resources. To maintain and upgrade the offshore fishing fleets on the basis of protecting the eco-environment and regenerating aquatic resources.

4. Synchronous development of the infrastructure system:

a/ Transport:

- To speed up the construction of expressways. To complete by 2020 around 580 km of expressways; and harden the surface of 80% rural roads. To speed up the construction of key works in order to tackle traffic congestion and develop urban centers.

- To complete the upgrading and renovation of the North-South railway and the terminal in Ho Chi Minh City; to build railways linking large seaports and economic zones; to open new railway lines to connect the inner areas of the region and the Mekong delta; to study the building of a North-South high-speed railway line at an appropriate time.

- To renovate, upgrade and complete up to technical standards inland waterway channels and routes; to upgrade and make intensive investment in river ports. To transform a number of cargo ports in line with urban planning to serve passenger transport and tourism.

- To upgrade existing airports to meet demands in each period; to complete and put into operation at the first stage Long Thanh international airport.

b/ Power supply and post and telecommunications:

- To focus on building and completing power plants and a synchronous power distribution network in conformity with national electricity development master plan 7 and the operation schedules of power plants. To study the application of a smart power network with modem technologies in the connection, regulation and synchronization with the national and regional power grids.

- To build modem telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City and central urban areas. To develop post, telecommunications and information technology toward diversifying services, expanding the scope and constantly increasing service quality. To develop modem post services on a par with those of advanced countries in the region. To widely and effectively apply information technology in state management, economic sectors, socio-cultural fields and security and defense.

c/ Water supply and drainage: To build a complete water supply system to fully meet daily-life needs of urban centers, residential areas and industrial parks. To concentrate on water drainage for urban enters and control pollution of water sources, especially in the Dong Nai - Sai Gon river downstream. To minimize damage caused by floods and storms in lowland and coastal areas. To step by step tackle inundation in Ho Chi Minh City and drain water for urban centers.

d/ Irrigation: To reinforce the system of irrigation works in the region in order to supply sufficient water for agricultural production and aquaculture. To build facilities to conduct water from the Dong Nai river basin to the Mekong delta in the dry season via Vam Co river to serve production in the dry season. To concentrate on the supply of production water for areas short of water in the dry season in order to prevent deep salinity intrusion, especially in the Sai Gon river bank areas. To reinforce river and sea dykes in order to effectively prevent natural disasters and ensure people’s production.

5. Social fields:

a/ Human resource training, employment generation and social security:

- To train human resources with assured quality in all three aspects (high professional qualification, health and morality) and a reasonable structure of trained disciplines. To attach importance to training high-quality human resources to meet the requirement of receipt of modem technology.

- To continue to push up the process of labor restructuring toward reducing the rate and number of workers in agriculture, forestry and fishery, and increasing the rate and number of non-agricultural workers in step with the process of economic development in order to increase social productivity. To attach importance to generating employment associated with income increase to stabilize laborers’ life. To create 340,000 - 350,000 jobs a year on average.

- To develop the training of human resources in association with the development of production, trading and service units. To synchronously, comprehensively and effectively implement poverty reduction programs and projects; to create opportunities for poor households to access land, credit and vocational training support policies; to support and create conditions for poor households to develop production and increase income for sustainable escape from poverty.

- To synchronously implement appropriate solutions to ensuring social security, increasing income and improving living standards for people in each period of development. To ensure that all people have equal access to basic services and social welfare and be provided with conditions for all-sided development and smooth integration into the community. To effectively implement support policies for disadvantaged groups.

- To properly implement social policies to take care of persons with meritorious service to the country, provide vocational training and create jobs for children of policy- benefiting families; to step up charity and humanitarian activities to assist the poor and disadvantaged.

b/ Education and training:

- To develop education toward standardization, modernization and all-sided education, to make substantive improvements in quality, effectiveness and scale. To concentrate on training human resources to meet development needs of the region and the whole country, especially human resources in the spearhead fields.

- To invest in building Ho Chi Minh City National University into a high-quality training center with international prestige. To prioritize investment in the region’s key universities in order to quickly approach the regional training level in some advantaged fields. To step up socialization to mobilize every resource for education and training development, expand cooperation and partnership within and outside the country in parallel with ensuring and continuously increasing training quality.

- To prioritize and concentrate investment on 8 high-quality vocational schools with key occupations reaching regional and international standards so as to meet the requirement for a high-quality workforce for the region’s socio-economic development. To push up socialization of vocational training activities.

c/ Health:

- To concentrate on developing medical training and research and medical technology application institutions reaching the advanced level in the region, aiming to meet the requirements of training and receipt of transferred technologies, as well as healthcare needs.

- To develop regional-level modem and hi-tech health centers and hospitals. To build specialized health centers in Ho Chi Minh City; to build and upgrade provincial-level general and specialized hospitals to reach level I and meet people’s healthcare needs.

- To consolidate and improve the preventive medicine network toward streamlining, higher effectiveness and competence to forecast, early detect and promptly control epidemics, control common risky factors affecting community health, and improve people’s health. To further strengthen, complete and raise the capacity of the commune and ward health network for the people to access quality primary health care services right in their communities, ensuring 90% of commune health stations have physicians and over 80% of communes reach national standards of commune health.

d/ Culture, sports and physical training:

- To comprehensively develop the system of provincial-, district- and commune-level cultural facilities. To strive for the targets that 100% of hamlets, villages and street quarters will have community cultural houses and sports zones as prescribed; 80% of national- and provincial-level relics will be repaired and embellished. To develop cultural and sports facilities at the edge of industrial parks.

- To complete the construction of Rach Chiec sports complex in Ho Chi Minh City and a number of cultural facilities typical of the region.

- By 2020,30 - 35% of the people will regularly do physical exercise and play sports. To continue to maintain, develop and raise the quality of high-achievement sports like soccer, volleyball, tennis, etc.

6. Science and technology:

- To develop the science and technology potential in the region, increase investment in leading research institutes and key science and technology centers and laboratories, and technology application and transfer establishments. To promote investment in Ho Chi Minh City technology zone, and build more hi-tech parks in localities where conditions permit.

- To bring into play the leading role in the country’s science and technology development. To promote technology renovation toward using new, high and modem technologies; to prioritize clean technology, information technology, bio-technology, automation technology and new material technology, and accelerate investment in science and technology to serve the development of marine economy.

7. Management of natural resources and environmental protection:

- To use land funds in a reasonable, economical, effective and sustainable manner. To exploit and use land according to proper purposes and areas as well as criteria and economic and technical targets set out in specialized master plans and in conformity with land use master plans and plans for each period in each province or city and the whole region. To raise the value of land and economic efficiency per unit of acreage, increase revenues from land, creating resources for socio-economic development. To enhance inspection and supervision of the implementation of land use master plans and plans.

- To protect the mangrove forest, riverhead and protection forest eco-systems. To control agricultural production and aquaculture activities; to establish a water quality observation system; to build synchronously systems of wastewater drainage and systems of collection and treatment of solid waste, particularly hazardous waste in urban centers and industrial parks.

8. Defense and security:

- To strengthen the defense potential and build the all-people’s defense disposition, step up the construction of firm defense zones of provinces and cities. To build strong armed forces; a regular and modem standing army, develop militia and self-defense forces suitable to each defense zone. To attach importance to building the marine self-defense force and increase the capacity to defend and safeguard the national sovereignty over and national interests on the sea and islands, in combination with promoting socio-economic development in sea areas, on islands and in coastal areas.

- To build elite forces that are professionally competent and politically firm along with strengthening physical foundations and equipment. To consolidate the people’s security posture and strengthen commune-level forces to prevent the occurrence of any unexpected circumstances. To coordinate various forces to effectively implement national programs against crimes and social evils.

IV. URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF REGIONAL TERRITORY

1. Development and distribution of urban systems

- To establish systematic linkage between urban centers in the region. To form a multi-center structure to create a motive force for development of surrounding areas, and concurrently reduce pressure on the central area of Ho Chi Minh City.

- To develop Vung Tau, Bien Hoa, Thu Dau Mot and My Tho urban centers into grade-I provincial cities which will play the role as development poles in the region’s urban system.

- To develop the satellite urban centers of Nhon Trach, Long Thanh, Tam Phuoc, Hiep Phuoc, Cu Chi, Due Hoa, Trang Bom, An Lac, Nha Be, Can Gio, Di An - Thuan An, Tan An, Go Cong, Ben Luc and Can Giuoc. To develop urban corridors from Ho Chi Minh City to link with such urbanized corridors as national highways 1A, 51, 22, 13 and 50. To develop district townships lying over 50 kilometers far from the center of Ho Chi Minh City as development poles to facilitate rural development.

2. Rural development and distribution of residential areas

- To reorganize residential areas along axial roads to ensure beauty, environment and traffic safety. To plan the renovation and construction of craft villages for sustainable development.

- To form rural service centers; to build rural residential lines and clusters with synchronous infrastructure facilities meeting the set of national new-countryside criteria.

3. Development of sub-regions

- To build Ho Chi Minh City into a service, industrial, science and technology center of Southeast Asia.

- The northeastern sub-region consisting of Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau: This sub-region will be an area of dynamic development of the region, with importance attached to raising the competitiveness of industries and developing services synchronously to properly serve the key and spearhead industries and increase technological content and technical labor in the economic sectors.

To strongly develop the service sector in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, with port development as the central task, while strongly developing logistics services. To create varied types and products of tourism that are highly competitive like convalescence tourism, eco-tourism and sea-island tourism. To invest in developing Con Dao into a high-quality tourist-service economic zone.

- The northwestern sub-region embracing Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc: To develop this sub-region in response to the process of industrial restructuring in other localities while tapping the advantages of border-gate economic zones and expanding economic and trade activities with Cambodia. To build border residential points and areas in combination with ensuring defense and security.

- The southwestern sub-region covering Long An and Tien Giang: To bring into play the role of this sub-region as the gateway and bridge linking the Mekong delta and southern key economic region. To make continued investment to ensure firm food security and export. To form zones specialized in fruit trees. To speed up the construction and effective operation of industrial parks and clusters; to encourage development of various services, particularly services supporting production development and life.

- Development of marine economy: To effectively implement Vietnam’s marine strategy through 2020, strongly develop marine economy and increase its contribution to the region’s socio-economic development. To build coastal areas into “open economic zones” looking outward. To closely combine development of marine economy with assurance of security and defense and protection of national sovereignty over the sea.

V. LIST OF PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS PRIORITIZED FOR INVESTMENT STUDY: See the enclosed Appendix.

VI. MAJOR SOLUTIONS FOR MASTER PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

1. Fields prioritized for development

- To vigorously restructure the economy toward modernity and raising the productivity, product quality and competitiveness of all economic branches.

+ To form and develop a system of key products with higher competitiveness based on modem technology and combined effect of production and business links.

+ To develop industrial products with high added value, such as software, industrial and civil electronics; petrochemical products; high-grade construction materials; mechanical engineering, equipment, spare parts and repair.

+ To strongly develop high-quality services generating large added value, such as trade, financial, banking, telecommunications and transport; technology transfer; tourism- real estate market, capital market, etc.

- To increase focused and prioritized investment to construct, upgrade and complete the system of socio-economic infrastructure facilities in a synchronous manner and one step ahead. To prioritize the completion of inter-provincial and inter-regional axes, expressways, roads, airports and seaports that are synchronous and modem in order to connect different regions and different modes of transport. To concentrate on tackling traffic congestion and inundation in Ho Chi Minh City.

- To develop high-quality human resources; to increase the quality and expand the scope of training with a rational structure of disciplines directed at spearhead professions such as finance, banking, transport, software, electronics, telecommunications; and high technologies like automation, biology, new materials, etc.

- To step up linkage to form a unified economic space in the entire region, increase coordination and support among localities; to continue to effectively carry out administrative reform at all levels and raise the quality of cadres and civil servants.

2. Mobilization and more effective use of investment capital

- To mobilize and effectively use state capital to develop socio-economic infrastructure, human resources, science and technology, and environmental protection, and implement national target programs. To invest budget funds in important infrastructure development works and projects that are difficult to attract investors from the outside; to step up attraction of investment capital in BOT, BTO, PPP and other forms, especially in the transport sector.

- To improve the business environment and facilitate the participation of all economic sectors in the socio-economic development. To properly implement investment attraction and direction. To introduce incentive policies for sectors prioritized for development in each area based on each locality’s advantages and potential. To renovate mechanisms and policies to attract to the utmost financial resources from all economic sectors, especially mobilize idle capital in the population, for production and business development.

- To continue to promote FDI attraction in step with the integration process. To renew foreign investment promotion activities toward focusing on sectors and fields in which the region has advantages and on potential partners, especially developed countries, while further expanding ties with partners that have invested a lot in the region.

3. Restructuring and raising the competitiveness of economic sectors and key products

- Stepping up economic restructuring: To focus on developing industries with comparative advantages and high added value, incrementally drive down the proportion of mining, preliminary processing and contracted processing. To prioritize development of quality and highly specialized services that create more jobs and higher income such as finance-banking, telecommunications, information technology, tourism, trade and logistics.

- Developing human resources:

+ To complete and implement soon master plans on human resource development in localities, and align human resources development orientations with socio-economic development orientations and labor market requirements. To increase the rate as well as quality of trained workers and raise the proportion of workforce in sectors that manufacture export products, especially service products, and in hi-tech industries.

+ To create mechanisms to encourage foreign experts and scientists and overseas Vietnamese to give advice on socio-economic development issues in each locality and the whole region.

- Promoting and improving the quality of scientific and technological research and application: To develop scientific and technological tasks in line with socio-economic development targets with immediate focus on investment in and training of human resources in science and technology who are able to master new technologies for practical application, and concurrently attract high-quality human resources from abroad for the application of scientific achievements and development of advanced technologies.

- Developing economic sectors: To continue to improve the business environment toward openness and fair competitiveness among different economic sectors. To support businesses in information access and market penetration and expansion. To take advantage of the assistance of overseas Vietnamese representative offices in acquiring market information and seeking foreign partners in the cooperation process; to provide information to assist businesses in order to minimize possible negative impacts in the integration process. To promote market research and trade promotion work; to encourage domestic enterprises to build and develop trademarks.

- Carrying out administrative reform and improving quality of cadres and civil servants: To improve the quality of public administrative services; to publicize procedures and time of handling, etc., in various forms for people and businesses to monitor and assess. To continue to implement, and improve the quality of, the one-stop-shop mechanism in settling affairs for organizations and citizens. To expand the implementation of the one-stop- shop mechanism between provincial departments-sectors, between provincial departments-sectors and People’s Committees of districts, wards and communes in settling administrative procedures. To widely apply information technology and modernize administration.

4. To promote coordination and linkage among localities in and outside the region in the course of investment promotion, resources mobilization and distribution, and socio­economic infrastructure construction; vocational training and job generation; scientific research and technology transfer; development of inter-provincial and -regional tourist programs and routes; information provision and building of socio-economic database for the region to serve forecast work and coordination in environmental protection and response to climate change.

5. Creation of linkage mechanisms:

- To consolidate the Steering Committee for the Development of Key Economic Regions and its office in order to raise the quality of coordination work, especially increase the effectiveness of its standing team.

- To raise the quality of coordination among ministries, sectors and localities in the region; to draw up concrete action programs and assign clear responsibilities together with assessing coordination efforts of agencies in implementing the master plan.

- To annually organize the southern key economic region business forum to boost direct exchange and dialogues between investors and provincial and municipal administrations in the region.

- To study and adopt specific financial and budgetary mechanisms for Ho Chi Minh City to create resources for investment in its infrastructure development with a view to promoting the socio-economic development of the city and the whole region.

Article 2. Organization and supervision of the master plan implementation

1. After approved by the Prime Minister, the master plan on socio-economic development of the southern key economic region through 2020 and orientations toward 2030, will serve as the basis for formulating, adjusting, submitting for approval and implementing the region’s sectoral master plans and master plans on socio-economic development of localities in the region.

2. To assign the Ministry of Planning and Investment to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities in the region in:

- Making public the master plan and organizing investment promotion activities and conducting public information work to draw domestic and foreign investors and all economic sectors in the implementation of the master plan.

- Monitoring, urging, supervising and examining the implementation of the master plan; supervising the implementation of regional key investment programs and projects.

- Studying and proposing mechanisms and policies for coordination among localities in the region. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors, in calling for investment in the region’s key projects.

3. Related ministries and sectors shall:

Formulate, adjust and submit for approval master plans on development of sectors and fields in the region in line with the objectives, tasks and development orientations that are approved in Article 1 of this Decision.

Study, develop and submit to competent state agencies for promulgation specific mechanisms and policies so as to successfully implement the objectives and tasks set out in the master plan.

Coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in implementing, and supervising the implementation of, the master plan, and supervising the implementation of regional key investment programs and projects in priority order under their respective management.

Below are specific tasks of ministries and sectors:

a/ The Ministry of Transport:

- To direct the construction and completion of important transport works in the region;

- To propose mechanisms for raising capital for large-scale transport development projects in the region.

b / The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development:

- To formulate, submit for approval, and organize the implementation of, master plans on infrastructure serving production, agricultural products, and the fields under its management in the region;

- To propose mechanisms and policies on land, finance, credit, etc., to promote investment of high technologies in the production of key agricultural, forest and aquatic products in the region.

c/ The Ministry of Education and Training:

- To study and propose mechanisms and policies to promote linkage among training institutions and enterprises that use trained workforce; to create conditions for universities in the region to modernize their physical foundations and develop their lecturing staffs and training programs on a par with those of advanced countries in the region.

- To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors and Ho Chi Minh City in, building the city into a high-quality training center for the whole region. To facilitate the building of Ho Chi Minh City National University into a high-quality training center of international level.

d/ The Ministry of Industry and Trade: To direct the construction on schedule and according to planning electricity centers and power grids in the region. To direct and coordinate with related localities in building networks of regional-level wholesale marketplaces and trade centers.

dd/ The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment: To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related localities in, responding to climate change and sea level rise; protecting and using natural resources, controlling and reducing pollution and improving the environment in association with green growth and biodiversity conservation; protecting and reasonably using water sources; and protecting national parks and nature reserves. To guide and direct localities in the region to formulate land use master plans and plans to prepare land funds for relevant programs and projects to implement the master plan.

e/ The Ministry of Construction: To assume the prime responsibility for planning, examining and supervising the construction of regional-level hazardous waste treatment zones, cemeteries and water supply systems; to coordinate with localities in building water drainage and wastewater treatment systems so as to step by step thoroughly tackle inundation in urban centers.

g/ The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related localities, ministries and sectors in, completing the master plan on development of culture, physical training, sports and tourism; and master plans on the development of national tourist zones and sites in the southern key economic region.

4. The People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally run city in the region:

- To coordinate with ministries and sectors in organizing investment promotion activities and conducting public information work to attract domestic and foreign investors as well as different economic sectors to participate in the master plan implementation.

- The provinces and city in the region shall actively review detailed master plans, investment programs and projects; to integrate this master plan in their five-year and annual socio-economic development plans in conformity with the objectives and tasks approved in this Decision.

- To supervise and examine the implementation of development investment projects in their localities according to their assigned functions and report implementation results to the Prime Minister.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 4. The chairpersons of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally run city in the southern key economic region; ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and heads of government-attached agencies shall implement this Decision.

APPENDIX

LIST OF PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS PRIORITIZED FOR INVESTMENT STUDY IN THE SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION THROUGH 2020
(To the Prime Minister s Decision No. 252/QD-TTg of February 13, 2014)

Note: The locations, sizes, land areas and total investment amounts for the above works and projects will be calculated, selected and specified in the stages of formulation and submission of investment projects, depending on the capacity of balancing and raising investment capital in each period.-