Following the 16th Party Congress in the central Ha Tinh Province, officials said the region had the potential to become a leading industrial centre in the country.
The gross domestic product in the province is currently VND500bil (US$31mil). However, officials said because of regional advantages in terms of natural resources and labour, economic growth in the province could be far higher.
Tran Dinh Dan, a Central Communist Party member and secretary of Ha Tinh Province, said: “To make rapid development, basically, we should focus on the industrial and services sectors.”
Ha Tinh has great natural resources. The Thach Khe iron mine has estimated reserves of 554mil tonnes – 50% of the country’s total iron ore reserves – while a titanium mine has around a third of the country total titanium reserves.
The province has a 137- kilometre coastline and the potential to build deep water ports for sea transport, according to officials.
In 2007, the Prime Minister ratified a project to establish Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ky Anh District and the Vung Ang – Son Duong deep-water port.
Officials said the province had received a large number of investment offers from corporations such as Eminence (US), Baosteel (China), Posoco (Korea) to build a steel factory with an annual manufacturing capacity of four million tonnes.
Two thermo-power plants, Vung Ang I and Vung Ang II, each with a capacity of 1,200MW, will also be completed this year to meet the province’s energy demands, and make a sizeable contribution to the province’s budget.
During the first quarter of this year, Thach Khe Iron Mining Joint Stock Company was set up with a VND2,400bil (US$150mil) charter capital under the co-operation of Viet Nam Goal – Mineral Industry Group, Ha Tinh Mineral and Trade Company (Mitraco) and Viet Nam Steel Corporation.
Mitraco Ha Tinh xa partnership with the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group, also plans to build a petro-storehouse with a capacity of 2,000 tonnes.
“The company’s objective is to be a multi-field enterprise,” said senior director Mitraco Ha Tinh Nguyen Nhat. “At the moment, the preparation process has been completed.”
Deputy chairman of the province Vo Kim Cu said: “The industrial and service development roadmap has been set and Ha Tinh has [in the pipeline] more important projects than ever before which will speed up the process of changing the economic structure [of the province] and create job opportunities the thousands of labourers.”
