An overview of Hai Phong city (Photo: VNA)According to Associate Prof. Dr, Bui Tat Thang, formerDirector of the Development Strategy Institute and Chairman of the project tomake Hai Phong planning in the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050, HaiPhong has been a prime port city, the largest of its kind the north.
Pham Hong Minh, Chairman of the Port of Hai Phong JSC, said theHai Phong Port was formed in 1874 in the colonial time, playing an important role in ensuring nationaldefence and security and acting as a gateway to the sea of the whole northernregion.
Currently, Hai Phong has 52 ports, of which the Hai PhongInternational Container Terminal in Lach Huyen wharf area is the first moderndeep-water port in the north. The port, put into operation on May 13, 2018, isalso among the top 20 largest deep-water ports in the world with a capacity ofhanding 132.900 DWT container vessels. It serves the direct transportationbetween the northern region and American and European countries, helping reducelogistics costs and enhance the capacity of Vietnamese exports,motivating the development of the deep-water port system as well as logisticsactivities in the northern region.
Major Doan Tuan Hai, Chairman of the Tan Cang Hai PhongInternational Container Terminal Company Limited, said that the deep-waterport, together with Cat Bi international airport and the Hanoi - Hai Phonghighway, contributes to completing the trade infrastructure between Hai Phongand other provinces and cities in the country and the world. This transportinfrastructure system has also helped promote import-export activities and attractinvestment, especially foreign direct investment (FDI), creating a drivingforce for the port city to take off and boost the socio-economic development ofall northern provinces.
In order to optimise its advantages, in the 2021-2026period, the city has focused on three economic pillars of high-tech industry,seaport-logistics, tourism-trade.
In the recent five years, Hai Phong has been the leadinglocality in the country in FDI attraction. Last year, the city came first inthe field by receiving 5.5 billion USD.
Le Trung Kien, Director of the Hai Phong Economic ZoneManagement Board, said that so far, the city has attracted more than 870 FDIprojects from 42 countries and territories, with a total investment of about 24billion USD.
As part of the efforts to lure more investors, at the end ofAugust, Chairman of the Hai Phong People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung led adelegation to an investment promotion conference in the Republic of Korea.Right after that, Tung directly worked with 50 businesses of the EuropeanChamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) to brief them on cooperation andinvestment opportunities in the city.
Meanwhile, the number of international tourists to the city is also rising. Hai Phong has called for investment from many largetourism firms such as Vingroup, Sungroup, Flamingo, and Glixemco, he said.
Along with economic development, Hai Phong’s outlook has beenimproved greatly. To date, the city has spent over 1.2 trillion VND (50.84million USD) to build 278 rural works.
Hai Phong is striving to get all local districts recognisedas new-style rural areas within this year, and complete all criteria for model new-stylerural areas in 22 communes, while continuing to build 35 model new-style ruralcommunes.
The city has also designed plans to attract investment for logistics and aviation development. The construction of a coastal highwayconnecting localities of Ninh Binh, Thai Binh and Nam Dinh is also beingconsidered by the Government. According to Secretary of the municipal PartyCommittee Tran Luu Quang, once completed, the project will create great chancesfor Hai Phong to develop./.
VNA
