HÀ NỘI — Hoài Đức District on the outskirts of Hà Nội will be developed into an urban district by 2020, said Hoàng Trung Hải, secretary of the Hà Nội Municipal Party Committee.

He made the statement during a working visit to the district last weekend.

Hải said Hoài Đức District connects the city’s urban and suburban districts, and thus, priority should be given to the transport sector there, he said.

Hoài Đức is adjacent to the districts of Bắc Từ Liêm, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Đông, Phúc Thọ, Chương Mỹ, Đan Phượng and Quốc Oai.  Several important highways, such as Thăng Long Highway, National Highway 32, as well as many interprovincial routes, run through the district.

Seventeen out of 19 communes in the district met the criteria for new-style rural areas by the end of last year.

Regarding the economic structure, the current trade and services sector accounts for 46 per cent of the district’s GDP, while the agriculture sector accounts for 7.5 per cent.

To reach the target of becoming an urban district by 2020, Nguyễn Quang Đức, chairman of Hoài Đức District’s People’s Committee, urged the city authority to promptly build a section of Belt Road 3.5 connecting Thăng Long Highway with National Highway 32. Once completed, the road would yield great benefits in terms of economic and social development, he said.

Đức also suggested that the authority speed up the planning of these routes to attract more investors for the construction of schools, hospitals and trading centres.

The municipal secretary asked the district’s authorities to review unfulfilled targets and continue its efforts to ensure that all communes meet new-style rural area criteria.

He also urged district authorities to boost the application of information technology and administration reform so that it can become an urban district by 2020. — VNS