Overview of Chân Mây Port which is deemed the "heart" of Chân Mây - Lăng Cô Economic Zone in central Thừa Thiên Huế Province. VNA/VNS Photo

THỪA THIÊN HUẾ — Despite having a "prime" geographical location, as well as a natural deep-water port, after 15 years of establishment and development, the Chân Mây - Lăng Cô Economic Zone has not yet developed commensurate with its outstanding advantages and initial planning expectations.

The economic zone covers an area of ​​about 27,108ha, with five main functional areas including a port area, an industrial park, a non-tariff area, an urban area and a tourist area.

The Management Board of the Economic and Industrial Zone of Thừa Thiên Huế Province said Chân Mây - Lăng Cô Economic Zone has basically completed the main traffic routes.

It has a wastewater treatment system with a capacity of 10,000cu.m per day and night, and a solid waste disposal site.

In addition, the economic zone also completed the construction of technical infrastructure for four resettlement projects with a total area of about 125ha, capable of arranging for about 3,000 households to move in.

The economic zone has 57 investment projects with a total registered capital of more than VNĐ87 trillion (US$3.6 billion); in which 28 projects have been completed and put into operation, creating jobs for about 4,700 employees, with annual revenue of nearly VNĐ4 trillion.

However, the economic zone's annual contribution to the budget of Thừa Thiên – Huế Province is only about VNĐ280 billion, because most of the projects are in the period of exemption from land rent and corporate income tax.

Trần Đình Thiên, former director of the Việt Nam Institute of Economics, said that perhaps the economic zone was lacking in large investors to choose this place as a destination.

In addition, one of the very important conditions to attract large investors that this economic zone was lacking was a source of high-quality labour, he said.

In addition, the infrastructure system of Chân Mây Seaport is currently only serving the transportation of bulk cargo, and has only recently been implemented to attract container shipping.

Many enterprises investing in seaport infrastructure believe that although Chân Mây Port has great potential, the industrial development capacity of Thừa Thiên Huế Province is still limited, and the volume of goods circulated and imported is not high.

Therefore, in order to develop a strong seaport, it needs to be associated with attracting investors to industrial parks in the province, especially industrial park land in Chân Mây - Lăng Co Economic Zone.

Vision of a modern coastal city

Thừa Thiên Huế Province is orienting the development planning of Chân Mây - Lăng Cô to become a modern coastal city in the future, with a total area of 447sq.km.

This will be a clean industrial city - seaport, one of the major and modern international trade centres; tourism, resort and commercial city of national and international stature of the central dynamic region, closely linked with Đà Nẵng urban area.

Chairman of the Việt Nam Urban Planning and Development Association (VUPDA) Trần Ngọc Chính said that the formation and development of Chân Mây - Lăng Cô city was the right vision.

In the future, this city will connect and share benefits with the development of Liên Chiểu Seaport (Đà Nẵng City) on the other side of Hải Vân Pass, which can become a logistics port because of its large development space.

“Currently, Chân Mây Port is a destination for large cruise ships, bringing thousands of tourists each time. The development of a modern city here will create new breakthroughs for Thừa Thiên Huế,” said Thiên.

If Thừa Thiên Huế could set an "unusual" goal and attach it to the national level, with good solutions, and have strategic investors, then there would be specific mechanisms and policies, and adequate support resources from the central government, he added.

Because the development of the modern Chân Mây - Lăng Cô urban area was not only for Thừa Thiên Huế but also for the country, said Thiên.

In order to realise the vision of a modern coastal city, attracting a high-quality labour force to work and live, Thừa Thiên Huế Province is adjusting the planning of Chân Mây - Lăng Cô Economic Zone.

The new point in the adjustment of the general planning to build the economic zone this time was to expand the industrial development space, create a land fund to attract large-scale, brand-name infrastructure construction and investment projects, including VSIP Group, said Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyễn Văn Phương.

At the same time, the province also redefines the development space of Chân Mây Wharf area to increase the length of the wharf operation, form and develop logistics centres, and inland port systems.

In addition, it also plans to align with the development planning orientations of Lăng Cô – Cảnh Dương national tourist area by 2030 and review and adjust development orientations for high-class resort tourism, and casino entertainment services for the period up to 2045 in line with the vision of the whole economic zone. — VNS