Decision 222/QD-TTg 2023 approving Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period

DECISION

Approving the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050^[1]

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government; and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the November 24, 2017 Planning Law;

Pursuant to the June 15, 2018 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of 11 Laws concerning Planning;

Pursuant to the November 20, 2018 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of 37 Laws concerning Planning;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 61/2022/QH15 of June 16, 2022, on further improvement of effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of planning policies and laws and a number of solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles in, and accelerate the formulation and improve the quality of, master plans for the 2021-2030 period;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 37/2019/ND-CP of May 7, 2019, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Planning Law;

Pursuant to the Government’s Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP of February 5, 2018, on organization of the implementation of the Planning Law;

Pursuant to the Government’s Resolution No. 119/NQ-CP of September 27, 2021, on tasks and solutions to improve the quality and accelerate the formulation of master plans for the 2021-2030 period;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 664/QD-TTg of May 20, 2020, approving the task of formulating the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050;

Pursuant to Appraisal Report No. 4654/BC-HDTD of July 11, 2022, of the Council for Appraisal of Provincial Master Plans for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, on the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, and the Report on strategic environmental assessment of the Master Plan;

At the request of the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province in Report No. 02/TTr-UBND of February 12, 2023, requesting approval of the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050; and opinions of the Council for Appraisal of Provincial Master Plans in Document No. 824/CV-HDTD of February 8, 2023; and opinions of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Document No. 1490/BKHDT-QLQH of March 3, 2023, on overall review of the dossier of the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050.

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050 (below referred to as the Master Plan), with the following principal contents:

I. SCOPE AND BOUNDARIES OF THE MASTER PLAN

The scope and boundaries of the Master Plan of Thai Nguyen province cover the entire Thai Nguyen province, with a total natural land area of 352,196 ha, and 9 administrative units, including 3 cities (Thai Nguyen, Song Cong and Pho Yen) and 6 districts (Dinh Hoa, Vo Nhai, Phu Luong, Dong Hy, Dai Tu and Phu Binh). The geographical coordinate boundaries are from 20^o20’ to 22^o25’ north latitude and from 105^o25’ to 106^o16’ east longitude. The province borders on Bac Kan province to the north; on Hanoi city to the south; on Vinh Phuc and Tuyen Quang provinces to the west; and on Lang Son and Bac Giang provinces to the east.

II. DEVELOPMENT VIEWPOINTS, OBJECTIVES AND BREAKTHROUGHS

1. Development viewpoints

a/ To ensure conformity with the country’s development orientations and vision, the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress, the Strategy for the 2021-2030 ten-year socio-economic development of the whole country, the Political Bureau’s Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW of February 10, 2022, on orientations for socio-economic development and national defense and security assurance in the northern midland and mountainous region up to 2030; national master plans, national sectoral master plans and regional master plans; and the Resolution of the 20^th Party Congress of Thai Nguyen province.

b/ To take the initiative in, facilitate further renewal of the way of thinking in a comprehensive and drastic manner; to ensure rapid, sustainable and comprehensive development in all fields of economy, politics, culture, society, environment, national defense and security; to increase investment attraction; to carry out economic restructuring in association with the growth model renewal; to consolidate regional connectivity; to develop complete and modern infrastructure facilities; to accelerate digital transformation and take advantage of new achievements, opportunities and technologies brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution; to intensify international economic integration and intensively and effectively participate in global value chains.

c/ To develop a friendly, civilized and harmonious society; to combine economic development with the conservation and promotion of values of cultural heritages; to bring into the fullest play the human factor, considering people the center, the subject, the most important resource and the goal of development; to arouse and strongly promote values of culture and people of Thai Nguyen province, revolutionary traditions, culture, dynamism and aspiration for innovation, creativity, self-reliance, and strong and sustainable spirit of the people of Thai Nguyen province; to regard investment, human resource quality improvement and education and training development as the foundation for sustainable and long-term development; to create fundamental changes in training and attracting high-quality human resources together with increasing the size and quality of the population.

d/ To develop economic corridors in association with major traffic axes and urban centers in order to promote intra-regional and regional connectivity, bring into play potential, strengths, comparative advantages and competitive advantages of each locality in the province as well as in the northern midland and mountainous region and the Hanoi Capital region.

dd/ To firmly ensure national defense and security; to firmly maintain political stability and social order and safety; to expand, and raise the efficiency of, external and international integration activities; to build an orderly, disciplined, secure, safe and civilized society.

2. Development objectives through 2030

a/ General objectives

- To promote all potential, advantages and resources to develop Thai Nguyen province in a fast, comprehensive and sustainable manner; to build a peaceful, happy, prosperous and friendly Thai Nguyen province, becoming one of the developed provinces in Northern Vietnam. By 2025, Thai Nguyen province will become one of the modern and smart industrial economic centers of the northern midland and mountainous region and the Hanoi Capital region. By 2030, Thai Nguyen province will become one of high-level electricity and electronics production and mechanical engineering centers; a high-quality human resource education and training and production hi-tech research and application center; a medical and healthcare center; a tourist center; and a digital transformation center of the northern midland and mountainous region; to build Thai Nguyen city into one of the important core growth poles in the economic development of the northern midland and mountainous region and the Hanoi Capital region.

- Regarding infrastructure: To build a complete and modern infrastructure system, creating breakthroughs in socio-economic development of the province, focusing on the construction of a complete transport infrastructure system connected with the transport system of the region and the country; to build safe, modern and complete electricity supply, water supply and hydraulic-work systems to fully meet production and people’s daily-life needs; to build complete infrastructure facilities of industrial parks, cottage industry zones, urban areas and residential areas; to build and develop modern and safe information and communications infrastructure and digital infrastructure facilities; to develop infrastructure facilities in eco-tourism and resort areas; the social infrastructure system shall be planned and built to function as a multidisciplinary, multi-sector and high-quality healthcare and education-training center of the region.

- Regarding national defense, security, social order and safety: To combine socio-economic development with the consolidation of the national defense and security posture, proactively grasping the situation so as not to fall into the state of being unprepared; to build increasingly solid defensive zones; to ensure social order and discipline, and the people’s safety, peace and happiness.

b/ Specific targets

- Economically

+ The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) will reach 8%-8.5% per year; the economic scale will reach around USD 13.5 billion; the total investment capital mobilized from the entire society in the 2021-2030 period will be around USD 45 billion.

+ Economic structure: The industry-construction sector will account for around 60%; service sector, around 32.8%; and agro-forestry-fisheries sector, around 7.2%.

+ The per-capita GRDP will be around USD 8,900 (calculated at current prices).

+ Proportion of labor by economic sector: 37%, for the industry-construction sector; 27% for the agro-forestry-fisheries sector; and 36% for the service sector.

- Regarding culture, social affairs, education, health and environmental protection

+ The population size will be around 1.52 million by 2030.

+ The urbanization rate will reach 48.5% by 2025 and 61.7% by 2030.

+ The rate of trained workers will surpass 80%, of which workers possessing training degrees or certificates will reach around 37%.

+ The rate of schools meeting national standards will be 95% by 2030.

+ The number of medical doctors per 10,000 people will be 19.

+ The number of hospital beds per 10,000 people will be 60.

+ The rate of population participating in health insurance will be 98%.

+ The entire population will have access to domestic water meeting hygiene requirements.

+ The rate of solid domestic wastes collected and treated up to standards or technical regulations will reach 95%.

+ All industrial parks, cottage industry zones and urban centers will have centralized wastewater treatment systems; production and business establishments will meet environmental technical regulations.

+ The forest coverage rate will be kept stable at around 46% or more.

3. Development vision toward 2050

To strive to build Thai Nguyen province into a centrally run city, a green and smart city with its own identity; one of modern industrial centers of the Hanoi Capital region and the whole country; and a worth-living, worth-visiting, safe and prosperous place.

4. Development breakthroughs of the province

a/ To focus on developing infrastructure facilities in the southern area of the province; to prioritize investment in ground clearance to create land areas to attract investors, develop transport infrastructure, industrial parks, cottage industry zones, urban areas and services in association with the development of the Hanoi Capital region.

b/ To accelerate digital transformation and build a digital administration; to develop digital economy and digital society and promote production and business activities toward application of digital technology; to form digital technology enterprises that are competitive in the market.

c/ To attach importance to development of the private economic sector and high technologies; to promote the formation of industry clusters and production clusters with field-based similarities as a basis for connection of production chains, product chains and value chains; to improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

d/ To raise the capacity and efficiency of the administrative apparatus at all levels; to step up administrative reform toward satisfaction of the people and enterprises; to focus on improving professional skills for cadres and civil servants, particularly improving official-duty ethics of civil servants.

dd/ To pay greater attention to the development of local human resources and attraction of high-quality human resources; to bring into full play advantages, achievements and opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in parallel with potential and strengths of universities and scientific research and medical centers in the province.

e/ To pay attention to and properly implement the national target programs on building of a new-style countryside, sustainable poverty reduction and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas; to develop potential of tourism and hi-tech agriculture; to narrow down the rich-poor gap between residential areas in the province.

III. ORIENTATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SECTORS AND FIELDS AND PLANS ON ORGANIZATION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

1. Orientations for development of important sectors and fields

a/ The industry-construction sector

- To strive for the target that by 2030, Thai Nguyen will become one of modern industrial centers of the Hanoi Capital region in association with sustainable development, thereby exerting spillover effects and impacts on industrial development in the entire northern midland and mountainous region, attaching importance to development of the processing and manufacturing industry with modern and highly specialized industries/industrial products at stages with a high value in value-added chains.

- To develop mechanical and manufacturing engineering, electronics and metal production industries; to prioritize the development of industries and industrial products with hi-tech application, high added value and environmental friendliness; to link industrial development with human resource training and high-quality support services, such as logistics, finance, banking, real estate, and information and communication technology.

- To develop the construction industry toward modernity and satisfaction of professional, financial and human resource requirements so as to build the province into a modern industrial economic center.

b/ The agro-forestry-fisheries sector

- To develop agriculture toward safe and organic production with application of high technology and digital transformation in association with landscape ecotourism; to concentrate on developing the province’s advantageous crops and livestock; to form large-scale concentrated commodity production areas with key agricultural products (tea, fruit trees, pork, chicken, wood, cinnamon, etc.), OCOP products, and local specialty products with high economic value and competitiveness.

- To develop a large-scale commodity agriculture in the direction of strengthening chain-based linkages, increasing added value, and promoting the development of processing and preservation industries to meet domestic market and export requirements, ensuring sustainable connection with global value chains for agricultural products; to improve the economic efficiency of OCOP products in combination with the building of a new-style countryside, an enhanced new-style countryside, and a model new-style countryside which is sustainable and rich in cultural identity.

c/ The trade and service sector

- Trade:

+ To quickly and sustainably develop different types of trade in the province, building Thai Nguyen province into a regional-level trade center and a trade exchange and economic center of the northern midland and mountainous region and the Hanoi Capital region; to consolidate and develop civilized and modern goods distribution channels; to harmoniously combine the development of different forms of traditional trade together with e-commerce development; to create breakthroughs on the basis of expanding the scale, diversifying types of trade and improving quality to meet social needs and the people’s livelihood; to attract investment in building trade centers, fair and exhibition centers, supermarkets and marketplaces.

+ To build and promote models of domestic and international exhibitions and fairs for the province’s advantageous products and services, particularly cultural and tourism products and services; to enter into cooperation, joint venture and association in the creation, production and marketing of products and services and in consumption; to create conditions for the province’s products and services to be displayed in prestigious international exhibitions and fairs.

- Tourism

+ To develop Thai Nguyen province’s tourism based on advantages in wellness tourism and eco-tourism in association with history, culture and spirituality, focusing on Nui Coc Lake National Tourist Zone, the eastern zone of Tam Dao, tea culture, the safety-zone special historical relic site, and Ly Nam De relic site.

+ To invest in building the province’s specific tourism products; to build a database on tourism, and carry out public communication about brands and the image of the province’s tourism.

+ To transform tourism models and diversify types of tourism business services in order to ensure their adaptability to new markets and new contexts.

- Other services: To develop the service sector on the basis of promoting the province’s potential and advantages; to promote innovation, apply scientific and technological achievements and develop digital economy; to prioritize the development of advantageous services.

d/ Development orientations for other sectors and fields

- Education and training, human resource development

+ To bring into full play the role of Thai Nguyen province as one of high-quality human resource training centers of the region and the country.

+ To proactively and actively take advantage of scientific and technical advances, particularly those brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the digital transformation trend in order to renew educational methods, create breakthroughs in smart education development, improve the quality of education and training in the province to meet international integration requirements.

+ To efficiently implement the general education program; to improve the quality of education universalization for all education levels and of national-standard schools; to intensify the mobilization of social resources for education and training development; to further pay attention to education in extreme difficulty-hit areas, ethnic minority areas and mountainous areas.

+ To develop a system of vocational education institutions and specialized education institutions for people with disabilities and a system of centers in support of inclusive education development.

+ To work out a roadmap for training, retraining and occupational change for workers so as to meet economic restructuring requirements, improve productivity, quality and efficiency, and satisfy the demand for industrial development of the province and market demand.

- Health and healthcare

+ To develop the health sector toward equity, efficiency, quality and sustainability as suitable to the province’s natural, economic and social conditions in order to meet the people’s increasing demand for health protection, care and improvement, thus contributing to raising the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of the local industrialization and modernization.

+ To improve the people’s health in physical, mental, stature, life expectancy and life quality aspects; to reduce the rate of morbidity and the rate of mortality from diseases and epidemics; to build a complete, quality and efficient health system toward international integration; to pay attention to the protection, care and improvement of health of people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas and of disadvantaged people in the province; to build a contingent of medical workers with good moral qualities and capacity to meet the requirements of the protection, care and improvement of the people’s health.

+ To rapidly develop high-quality medical services and mobilize social resources for investment in a number of hospitals providing high-quality services; to form a system of centers for disease control at all levels which will be connected with the world disease control network; to continue effectively carrying out epidemic prevention and control activities, thereby safely and flexibly adapting to and controlling epidemics, pay attention to the people’s health protection and socio-economic stability and development, and stay ready to effectively respond to future epidemics.

- Science, technology and innovation

+ To strive for the target that Thai Nguyen province will become one of science, technology and innovation centers of the northern midland and mountainous region, which will have modern and complete institution, technical infrastructure and equipment systems; have a contingent of scientific and technological personnel capable of absorbing, mastering, developing and transferring advanced technologies and modernizing traditional technologies; and have many valuable research works in all fields of science and technology.

+ To intensify the application of achievements of science, technology and innovation, particularly those of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, new material technology and biotechnology, focusing on such fields as processing and manufacturing industry, information and communication technology industry, administrative reform, state management, health, education, culture, security, tourism and environmental protection; to build digital administration, digital economy, digital society and smart cities.

- Social security

+ To efficiently implement policies and solutions to create jobs for workers in association with improving job quality, giving priority to employment support, livelihood creation and vocational training for young people and workers in difficulty-hit communes and extreme difficulty-hit villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; to efficiently implement policies on wage, social insurance, unemployment insurance and occupational safety and health, and improve industrial relations according to the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws.

+ To improve the efficiency of social assistance and social protection f activities, and properly implement policies on provision of regular and irregular assistance for disadvantaged people; to create a safe living environment and fully realize children’s rights; to properly implement policies for promoting gender equality and policies for the advancement of women at all levels and in all fields; to promote the prevention and control of social evils, proceeding to stop and gradually repel HIV/AIDS infection and social evils related to drug, prostitution and human trafficking.

- Culture and sports

+ To develop culture into a truly solid spiritual foundation of the society, an internal strength and an important driving force for rapid and sustainable economic development of the province; to pay attention to building grassroots cultural life, especially in rural, deep-lying, remote, ethnic minority and mountainous areas of the province; to develop culture, and improve the effectiveness of family work so as to preserve the identity of the land and people of the province; to conserve and promote cultural heritages in parallel with sustainable tourism development; to focus on conserving and promoting the value of cultural heritages of the province; to prioritize the renovation and embellishment of ranked relics that are degraded and relics of tourism development value.

+ To focus on building and gradually improving the system of cultural and sports institutions; to intensively and sustainably develop physical training and sports activities, and develop high-achievement sports, focusing on sports in which the province has advantages and Olympic sports.

- Information and communications

+ To fundamentally and comprehensively renovate the State’s management and administration toward building a digital administration; to develop digital economy and digital society and promote production and business activities toward application of digital technology and founding of digital technology enterprises that are competitive on the market.

+ To drastically develop all types of press information, paying special attention to the development of electronic information forms; to apply Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies in information collection and processing and program production; to enhance the management of digital platform-based communications.

- National defense and security

+ To build and consolidate defensive zones that are firm in terms of national defense and security; to strengthen the national defense and security potential; to closely and efficiently combine the socio-economic development with the national defense and security consolidation; to build the all-people defense posture in association with the people’s security posture; to promote the concerted strength of the entire political system for performance of local defense and military tasks.

+ To mobilize all resources for building potential for consolidating provincial- and district-level defense zones; to renovate and improve the quality of education and provision of national defense and security knowledge for cadres, Party members and the people, ensuring suitability to each subject.

2. Plans on organization of socio-economic activities

- To develop major economic corridors of Thai Nguyen province, including: (i) the corridor along national highways 3 and 37, the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen expressway and Ring Road 5-Hanoi Capital region; (ii) the corridor along national highways 37 and 17, which will connect townships and new urban areas for attracting investment in natural resource and mineral exploitation and processing industries, and a number of service and technical centers between the northern area and the southern area of the province; (iii) the corridor along national highways 3 and 3C linking the urban chain of Du-Giang Tien-Cho Chu, which will serve as the “backbone” corridor of the northwestern area of the province; and (iv) the corridor along national highway 1B connecting the urban chain of Hoa Thuong-Quang Son-La Hien-Dinh Ca, which will serve as the “backbone” corridor of the northeastern area of the province.

- To develop 2 socio-economic zones of the province, including:

+ The southern zone with 3 areas: (i) The cluster of Thai Nguyen-Cong River-Pho Yen city, which will be a concentrated urbanization area, the core and motivation for socio-economic development of the province; (ii) Phu Binh district, which will be developed into Phu Binh town, and serve as an industrial, hi-tech and innovative urban center; and (iii) Dai Tu district, which will be developed into Dai Tu town, and serve as an eco-cultural-tourist urban center.

+ The northern zone with 2 areas: (i) The northeast area embracing Vo Nhai and Dong Hy districts; and (ii) the northwestern area embracing Dinh Hoa and Phu Luong districts. This zone will be developed as a zone for nature protection; conservation of historical-cultural relics; development of agriculture and forestry; processing industry; and mineral exploitation and tourism.

IV. PLAN ON THE SYSTEM OF URBAN CENTERS, RURAL AREAS AND FUNCTIONAL ZONES

1. Plans on the system of urban centers

- To accelerate the urbanization process, develop the system of urban centers in association with the development of functional zones (industrial parks, cottage industrial zones; concentrated information technology parks; tourist resorts; research and training zones; and physical training and sports zones); to plan areas for construction of houses and social, cultural and sports facilities for workers in industrial parks and cottage industrial zones in association with the planning of industrial parks and cottage industrial zones in the locality, ensuring satisfaction of criteria regarding area, construction quality, aesthetics, safety and environmental standards in accordance with law.

- By 2030, the urban system of Thai Nguyen province is planned to consist of 15 urban centers, including:

+ One grade-I urban center, which is Thai Nguyen city.

+ Two grade-II urban centers, which are Song Cong city and Pho Yen city.

+ Five grade-IV urban centers which are the new urban centers of: (1) Dai Tu town, (2) Phu Binh town; (3) Hoa Thuong township, Dong Hy district, (4) Du township, Phu Luong district; and (5) Cho Chu township, Dinh Hoa district.

+ Seven grade-V urban centers which are (1) Trai Cau township, Dong Hy district, (2) Song Cau township, Dong Hy district, (3) Dinh Ca township, Vo Nhai district, (4) Giang Tien township, Phu Luong district, and the new urban centers of: (5) Quang Son, Dong Hy district, (6) Binh Yen, Dinh Hoa district, and (7) La Hien, Vo Nhai district.

- To develop and build a complete and modern socio-economic infrastructure system in Thai Nguyen city, maintaining the satisfaction of criteria of a grade-I urban center, being an administrative, political, economic, cultural, health and education center of Thai Nguyen province; becoming one of the important core growth poles in economic development of the northern midland and mountainous region and the Hanoi Capital region.

- To build Pho Yen city and Song Cong city in association with the construction of industrial, urban and service zones with complete and modern infrastructure systems; to attract investment and workforce, and ensure a green, clean and beautiful environment.

2. Plans on rural areas

- To develop rural areas of Thai Nguyen province in association with building of a new-style countryside, socio-economic development programs and plans and the process of urbanization of the province in conformity with the natural and ecological conditions of each area or region; to associate such areas with the locations of regions; to plan specialized agro-forestry-fisheries production or suburban
agricultural areas.

- To improve rural infrastructure, gradually improve the quality and living environment in rural areas (including conserving and promoting cultural identities of villages and communes) and conserve the natural environment; to implement models and solutions to build smart communes so as to strengthen linkages and local socio-economic development.

- Plan on spatial organization of rural areas

+ To develop rural areas on the basis of maintaining the stability of existing residential areas and at the same time develop expanded residential areas (residential development areas, commune centers) to meet the internal development needs of the rural population; to gradually renovate and expand traditional public spaces in villages to meet the needs for community activities and promote community cultural nuances in each locality.

+ To develop rural areas in a sustainable manner; to ensure balance between the need for development of functional spaces for socio-economic development with maintenance and protection of rural ecosystems.

+ To reserve land areas for the development of production and service activities in traditional trades in areas with traditional trades (craft villages).

+ To set orientations for shifting purely agricultural residential areas to commodity agriculture and application of the farm-based economic model; to arrange commodity trading service points at commune cluster centers and commune centers in order to promote the exchange of agricultural commodity products.

+ To plan the relocation of polluting craft villages in concentrated production areas, refrain from arranging these villages in residential areas, and apply clean and modern technologies to ensure environmental friendliness.

- Plan on distribution of rural residential areas: The model of the system of rural residential areas shall be associated with the model of new communes and villages, in combination with concentrated production areas and tourism. The building of new rural residential areas and resettlement areas should inherit and be linked with the current status of population distribution so as to ensure development and expansion. The distribution of rural residential areas should:

+ Suit natural conditions, with advantages in socio-economic development, technical infrastructure and the environment.

+ Meet requirements for disaster prevention and climate change adaptation. Rural residential areas must not be arranged in areas at risk of geological hazards or prone to inundation or flashfloods.

+ Be away from mining areas, nature reserves, archaeological sites, and polluted areas.

+ Minimize the use of arable land, particularly high-yield agricultural land, take advantage of hills, mountains, alluvial areas, and land under low-yield crops to build and expand residential areas.

- Plan on agro-forestry-fisheries development: To develop agriculture, forestry and fisheries in Thai Nguyen province with 2 development areas:

+ The southern Thai Nguyen area: To focus on developing ecological urban agriculture and hi-tech agriculture in association with the development of landscape eco-agricultural tourism and experience tourism. Main agricultural products are tea, vegetables, flowers, and livestock products.

+ The northern Thai Nguyen area: This is the province’s key area for the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries with key products being tea, fruit trees, livestock and poultry production, wood products, and cinnamon. To develop production forests in association with forest product processing; to develop special-use forests; to manage the development of watershed protection forests; to develop agriculture in association with landscape eco-tourism, agricultural experience tourism, and protection forest tourism associated with revolutionary historical site tours and community-based cultural tourism.

3. Plan on planning and development of functional zones

a/ Industrial parks and cottage industrial zones

To innovate and improve the efficiency of investment attraction, especially from big and branded investors; to prioritize attracting investment in industries that have high technology contents, are eco-friendly and capable of bringing about high added value, rapidly increasing occupancy rate, improving economic efficiency of established industrial parks and cottage industrial zones; to develop industrial parks in an intensive manner to increase national and international competitiveness, and form large-scale industrial clusters.

To speed up the construction of infrastructure of industrial parks and cottage industrial zones; to prioritize attracting investment in the development of industrial parks and cottage industrial zones in the province’s southern area in association with the development of the Hanoi Capital region.

- Industrial parks: By 2030, Thai Nguyen province will develop and expand 11 industrial parks and 1 concentrated information technology park, with a total area of ​​4,245 ha.

(Details are provided in Appendix I to this Decision).

- Cottage industrial zones: By 2030, Thai Nguyen province will develop 41 cottage industrial zones with an area of ​​2,067 ha.

(Details are provided in Appendix II to this Decision).

b/ Tourist areas: Thai Nguyen province will focus on developing tourist areas, including: Nui Coc lake; Dinh Hoa safety zone (ATK) special national relic site; the complex of Phuong Hoang cave-Mo Ga stream, caves in Vo Nhai district, Dinh Hoa district; eastern Tam Dao area, Khuon Manh forest (Vo Nhai district); Ghenh Che Lake eco-tourism area (Song Cong city); Suoi Lanh lake eco-tourism and resort area (Pho Yen city); Kim Dinh lake eco-tourism area (Phu Binh district); Cau Muoi temple and pagoda relic site (Phu Binh district); Van mountain-Vo mountain relic site (Dai Tu district); and Ly Nam De relic site (Pho Yen city).

c/ Multiple-purpose wellness, recreation, entertainment and golf course service areas

To plan the multiple-function areas of golf courses and wellness, recreation and entertainment, including 13 golf courses.

(Details are provided in Appendix III to this Decision).

d/ Military areas, security areas, areas for building fire prevention and fighting and rescue facilities

- Military areas: In addition to the land area currently in use, by 2030, the total area of national defense land will be about 4,349 ha. The arrangement for construction of national defense works in the locality must comply with the zoning plan and detailed construction plan approved by competent authorities.

- Security areas: In addition to the land area currently in use, by 2030, the total area of security land will be about 610 ha. The arrangement for construction of security works in the locality must comply the zoning plan and detailed construction plan approved by competent authorities.

- Areas for building fire prevention and fighting and rescue facilities

Fire prevention and fighting infrastructure facilities (such as barrack headquarters and fire prevention and fighting and rescue facilities) shall be arranged in the centers of districts, cities and towns, industrial parks, cottage industrial zones and key areas prone to fire and explosion, ensuring convenience in terms of traffic, water sources, and communication, conformity with the national sectoral master plans on fire prevention and fighting infrastructure and compliance with current regulations.

dd/ Plan on development of dynamic areas

The dynamic areas of Thai Nguyen province are the southern area and the Hanoi Capital’s ring road 5, including 5 administrative units which are Thai Nguyen city, Song Cong city, Pho Yen city, Phu Binh district and Dai Tu district.

It is required to further attract investment in the development of dynamic areas, focusing on development of economic corridors associated with main traffic axes, urban centers, concentrated industrial zones and sports and wellness tourism service areas.

e/ Plan on development of areas with difficult or extremely difficult conditions

- Regarding policy implementation and economic development: To effectively implement national target programs and policies targeting people in areas with difficult or extremely difficult conditions; to implement policies on agricultural and forestry extension, production promotion, forming linkage chains for sustainable economic development with dynamic areas of the province and markets outside the province; to implement preferential credit policies for subjects in areas with difficult or extremely difficult conditions; to develop agriculture and forestry in the direction of concentrated and efficient commodity production; to form and develop specialized farming areas and key products such as medicinal plants, forestation and processing of forest products, associated with the development of historical, community-based and ecological tourism; to promote the development of industrial production and cottage industries; to give priority to programs and schemes to support the development of industries serving agriculture and rural areas.

- Regarding infrastructure development: To invest in building, solidifying and upgrading the rural traffic network, connecting this network with provincial roads and national highways; to build essential infrastructure facilities such as electricity, school, healthcare, and telecommunications infrastructure to serve production and residence in communes, villages and hamlets with extremely difficult conditions; to invest in and support projects on population arrangement and stabilization.

- Regarding cultural and social development: To properly implement policies on vocational training support to improve the quality of human resources; to conserve and promote the value of national identity, implement poverty reduction policies, and improve the people’s material and spiritual lives.

g/ Other functional areas

To develop a number of concentrated specialized centers: Hi-tech agricultural zones and concentrated agricultural production zones, university and scientific research facility complexes; health and healthcare facility complexes; physical training and sports facility complexes, conservation areas, areas with historical-cultural relics that need to be preserved, repaired and restored, a system of ranked historical-cultural relics and scenic spots, and a number of central business districts in the Thai Nguyen-Song Cong-Pho Yen city complex.

V. TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

1. Traffic network development plan

To follow orientations set in the national-level master plans to develop the traffic infrastructure system of the province, ensuring completeness, modernity, interconnectivity, and promotion of regional linkage.

To apply advanced technology techniques and scientific and technical achievements in the development of intelligent transportation systems, effectively operating and managing the transport system, ensuring traffic safety, travel time and cost reduction, convenience and environmental friendliness, particularly the connectable transport system for long-term socio-economic development; to build smart parking lots in key urban centers.

a/ Roads

The road system of Thai Nguyen province consists of 3 vertical axes, 4 horizontal axes and 2 ring roads. All roads will be upgraded to be at least grade-IV mountainous roads with 2 lanes; road sections that coincide with expressways, national highways or provincial roads shall be built as planned. For road sections running through concentrated residential areas, to study the scale and direction based on the specific conditions of these areas.

- National roads: To comply the master plan on the national road network for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, approved under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1454/QD-TTg of September 1, 2021, in which: the ring road 5 of the Hanoi Capital region will be a 4-lane grade-II road and 6-lane urban road in the 2021-2025 period. In the next period, when there will be enough investment resources and transportation demand, to make investment to upgrade ring road V to be an overhead or normal 6-lane expressway.

- Provincial road system

+ To upgrade and renovate the existing provincial roads to be at least grade-III or grade-IV mountainous roads with 2 lanes. Road sections running through urban centers must comply with urban planning. For road sections running through concentrated residential areas, to study the scale and direction based on the specific conditions of these areas.

+ To develop a number of new roads which are at least 2-lane grade-III roads or 2-lane urban roads to increase connectivity between areas in the province.

+ To renovate, upgrade and build 15 district roads to provincial roads which will be at least grade-III or grade-IV mountainous roads with 2 lanes. Road sections running through urban centers must comply with urban planning. For road sections running through concentrated residential areas, to study the scale and direction based on the specific conditions of these areas.

(Details are provided in Appendix IV to this Decision).

b/ Railways: The railway network planning orientation must comply with the master plan on the railway network approved under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1769/QD-TTg of October 19, 2021.

- The 2021-2030 period: To upgrade and renovate the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen railway section from Dong Anh station to Quan Trieu station to be single tracks with a gauge of 1,000 mm and 1,435 mm, and a length of 55 km; and the Kep-Luu Xa railway section from Kep station to Luu Xa station to be single tracks with a gauge of 1,435mm and a length of 56 km.

- Until 2050: To build a new railway section of Thai Nguyen-Tuyen Quang-Yen Bai, with a gauge of 1,435mm and a direction based on the direction of the extended Quan Trieu-Nui Hong route from Yen Lang commune, Dai Tu district, to Ong Cai pass, Hop Thanh commune, Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province toward My Bang commune, Yen Son district, Tuyen Quang province. The estimated length of the section is about 73km.

c/ Waterways: The orientations for development of waterway infrastructure must comply with the master plan on inland waterway infrastructure approved under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1829/QD-TTg dated October 31, 2021.

- Navigable channels and routes

+ On Cau river, the section from the confluence of Cau-Cong rivers to Ha Chau, Phu Binh district (belonging to the Pha Lai-Da Phuc main waterway route) which runs through Thai Nguyen province, is 21km long and planned to be a grade-III waterway route.

+ On Cong river, the section from the confluence of Cau-Cong rivers to Cai Dan, Song Cong city (belonging to Cong river inland waterway route) which runs through Thai Nguyen province, is 19km long, of which the 5km-long section from the confluence of Cau-Cong rivers to Da Phuc road bridge is planned to be a grade-III waterway route and the 14km-long section from Da Phuc to Cai Dan, a grade-IV waterway route.

- Waterway port system

+ To invest in the Thai Nguyen port cluster for ships of 600-1,000 tons, with a capacity of 3 million tons/year under the approved master plan, including: Da Phuc port with a capacity of 1.5 million tons/year; Yen Binh port with a capacity of 1 million tons/year; and other ports with a capacity of 0.5 million tons/year.

+ To upgrade and build more inland waterway wharves in Nui Coc lake, Cau river and Cong river.

d/ Other transport infrastructure facilities

- Coach stations: To build coach stations of districts, cities and towns in locations with convenient traffic infrastructure, in conformity with master plans of districts, cities and towns. By 2030, Thai Nguyen city will have 3 grade-1 coach stations, and each district, city and will have has at least 1 coach station of grade 2 or higher grade. To further encourage the mobilization of social resources for investment in the construction of coach stations in localities.

- Public parking lots: To build public parking lots in central areas of districts, cities and towns and in industrial parks, residential areas, commercial and service areas, and administrative areas; to formulate policies to encourage the mobilization of social resources for investment in the construction of public parking lots in localities.

- Inland container depots: To plan the construction of 2 inland container depots in Pho Yen city and Phu Binh district of a designated scale.

- Rest stops: To upgrade and renovate the rest stop on the newly built Hanoi-Thai Nguyen national highway 3 (Km36-Km37, in Pho Yen city). To build a new rest stop on the former national highway 3 (Km75-Km77 in Thai Nguyen city) and a number of other rest stops on other expressways and national highways in line with development orientations.

2. Plan on development of the power supply network

- To maintain and develop the existing power sources in the province; to develop a number of biomass power plants, waste-to-energy plants and renewable energy sources.

- To renovate, upgrade and build new stations and transmission lines of 500kV, 220kV, and 110kV to meet the needs of socio-economic development and residential activities.

(Details are provided in Appendix V to this Decision).

3. Plan on development of the telecommunications network

- To develop information technology infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and an interconnected, synchronous and modern Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure to serve comprehensive digital transformation, building of digital government, and development of digital economy and digital society; to create breakthroughs in infrastructure and application of information and communication technology. By 2030, Thai Nguyen province’s information and communication infrastructure will meet requirements of the digital transformation, stable development, testing of new technologies and models, and fundamental and comprehensive innovation of management and governance activities of state authorities as well as demands for a new style of living and working in a safe digital environment.

- To develop the telecommunications infrastructure network, focusing on development of broadband network infrastructure, including the building and upgrading of inter-provincial optical transmission lines (including also a backup transmission line) of the Hanoi-Vinh Phuc-Thai Nguyen-Tuyen Quang-Bac Kan-Lang Son lines; to replace the province’s overhead peripheral cable network with an underground one; to improve the transmission network, increasing the sharing and shared-use of telecommunications infrastructure to ensure service quality, conservation of investment resources, network safety and urban landscape; to develop infrastructure facilities while ensuring national defense and security, information security and network safety.

- To develop postal services toward higher quality of digital services and widen service network to bring the services closer to customers with higher quality; to develop postal services together with telecommunications and information technology toward multi-sectoral convergence with diverse service types and payment modes.

(Details are provided in Appendix VI to this Decision).

4. Plan on development of the hydraulic-work, water supply and drainage network

- To develop hydraulic work toward modernity, ensuring water supply and drainage in service of residential, fire-fighting and economic activities; to improve the capacity of flood and inundation prevention and control, contributing to sustainable socio-economic development, environmental protection and adaptation to climate change in the province.

- To build and upgrade urban and rural water supply systems; to plan and arrange fire hydrants to meet water demand for production, residential and fire-fighting activities; to prioritize the construction of inter-city and inter-commune centralized water supply systems; to build new centralized water supply systems in communes to meet water demand of residential, production and fire-fighting activities.

- To further upgrade, expand and improve the efficiency of large-scale centralized wastewater treatment systems in urban areas and industrial parks and cottage industrial zones; to build urban and rural wastewater drainage systems.

(Details are provided in Appendices VII and VIII to this Decision).

5. Waste treatment facilities

- To plan the arrangement of dispersed solid waste treatment facilities in districts, towns and cities (to build or reserve land to build at least 1 solid waste treatment facility in each locality so as to collect and treat solid wastes for the locality or inter-district area).

- Waste collection and treatment: Domestic and normal industrial solid wastes of each district, town or city will be collected and brought to the solid waste treatment facility of the district, town or city; hazardous solid wastes will be collected and treated at facilities having the function of treating hazardous solid wastes; medical solid wastes will be collected and treated and brought to treatment facilities as designated for each area or group of areas.

- Urban and rural wastewater will be collected and treated up to standards before being discharged into the environment. Industrial wastewater and medical wastewater will be collected and treated at facilities that meet standards or technical regulations before being discharged into receiving waters.

(Details are provided in Appendix IX to this Decision).

VI. SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

1. Plan on development of the network of health and healthcare facilities

To develop a modern and sustainable health system in Thai Nguyen province, harmoniously combining specialized and intensive medicine with universal medicine; between disease prevention and medical examination and treatment- rehabilitation; and between traditional medicine and modern medicine; to develop high-quality healthcare infrastructure; promote the mobilization of social resources for attraction of investment resources for building of high-quality private hospitals; to promote public-private cooperation in disease prevention, medical examination and treatment and people’s health care; to encourage the formation and development of nursing centers and homes.

2. Plan on development of the network of education and training institutions

- To review, arrange and form multi-level general education schools (primary education, lower secondary education, and upper secondary education) in places where conditions are suitable to the needs and actual conditions of the locality; to review, arrange and adjust class size in a reasonable manner; to reduce the number of scattered school campuses on the principle of ensuring convenience for the people and suitability to the actual conditions of areas and localities of the province; to promote investment in the construction and development of non-public early childhood and general education schools and foreign-invested schools.

- To develop upper secondary schools in terms of scale and network: The province will have 41 schools (35 existing schools and 6 new schools, both public and non-public, including 1 boarding school for ethnic minorities).

- To develop continuing education centers in terms of scale and network: To keep stable the network and type of continuing education centers; to promote the development of non-public specialized educational institutions for people with disabilities and a non-public inclusive education development support centers in the province.

- Higher education development plan: By 2030, there will be Thai Nguyen University and Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Technology in the province. To develop Thai Nguyen General University into a key research-oriented multi-discipline general university with a number of spearhead disciplines reaching regional or international levels such as education, agro-forestry-fisheries, health, economics, industry, and information and communication technology.

3. Science and technology development plan

To develop the province’s science and technology infrastructure in sync with its socio-economic infrastructure system; to form and develop a network of innovation centers; to develop science, technology, digital economy, digital society and digital administration; to invest in upgrading and procurement of equipment for management units and public science and technology organizations in the province, focusing on building an applied experimental farm of the Science and Technology Development Center; to attract investment in and develop infrastructure of the centralized information technology park and the hi-tech agricultural zone.

4. Plan on development of vocational education institutions and social assistance establishments

- Vocational education institutions: To develop a network of vocational education institutions that operate efficiently, ensure quality and possess modern governance capacity; to focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of vocational education in order to meet the demand for skilled human resources for the country, a developing country with modern industry; to proactively participate in the international human resource training market. By 2030, Thai Nguyen province will have 22 vocational education institutions managed by the province and 1 national occupational skill assessment center to meet workers’ demand for occupational skill assessment.

- To develop social assistance establishments: To maintain and upgrade 3 public and non-public social protection centers and develop 7 new non-public centers.

5. Plan on development of cultural and sports institutions

- To invest in building a system of cultural and sports facilities up to standards in order to organize cultural and sports activities in the province, thus meeting the demands for creating and enjoying cultural and sport values of people from all walks of life living in the province.

- To conserve and effectively promote the cultural heritage of ethnic communities in the province, with priority given to the conservation of special national relics, national relics, intangible cultural heritages already included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages, and cultural heritages that are degraded and infringed.

- To build breakthrough innovative tourism products based on the province’s unique natural and cultural heritage resources, with the participation of the community.

- To increase state investment, and promote the mobilization of social resources for conservation activities to promote cultural heritage values, ensuring effectiveness and practicality.

6. Plan on development of the network of service establishments, trade centers, exhibition and fair centers

- To develop multi-purpose trade centers and complexes to meet the needs for shopping combined with recreation and entertainment, focusing on attracting and investing in the projects of the regional exhibition-market center; trade centers and department stores; wholesale markets, rural markets and other infrastructure facilities in service of tourism and service development.

- To develop a system of infrastructure for petroleum and gas supply and reserve, ensuring adequate, safe and continuous supply in service of socio-economic development, security and national defense of the province and the region.

VII. PLANS ON LAND ALLOCATION AND ZONING

Land resources shall be surveyed, evaluated, put in statistics, inventoried and used in an efficient, reasonable, economical and sustainable manner, meeting socio-economic development requirements, ensuring national defense and security, education, culture and sports development, and environmental protection and climate change adaptation, and creating a driving force for the province’s development; to ensure the reasonable land allocation and use on the basis of balancing land use needs of sectors and fields in conformity with targets set under the national land use master plan for the 2021-2030 period.

By 2030, the total natural land area of Thai Nguyen province will be 352,195.99 ha, in which the agricultural land area will be 283,109.99 ha, non-agricultural land area, 66,638 ha, and unused land area, 2,448 ha.

(The details are provided in Appendix X to this Decision).

VIII. PLANS ON CONSTRUCTION OF INTER-DISTRICT AND DISTRICT AREAS

1. Plans on construction of inter-district areas

a/ The southern inter-district area covers 5 administrative units, namely Thai Nguyen city, Song Cong city, Pho Yen city, Dai Tu district, and Phu Binh district.

- Characteristics: This area will be a modern and proactive economic area of the province, the northern midland and mountainous region and the northern Hanoi Capital region; being an urban, industrial and commercial service area with the central role for promotion of socio-economic development of the province, the northern midland and mountainous region and the northern Hanoi Capital region.

- Spatial development orientations: This area will become a science and technology and innovation center of the northern midland and mountainous region; to form and develop a network of innovation centers, and develop science, technology, digital economy, digital society and digital administration in this areas. This area will play an important role in, and make great contributions to, socio-economic development of the province and the northern midland and mountainous region; and serve as a north-south economic corridor for connecting dynamic regions, urban areas and economic centers, thereby creating spillover effects to promote the regional development.

To focus on developing modern infrastructure facilities, particularly infrastructure facilities in industrial parks, cottage industry zones and urban areas, and in the sectors of transport, electricity, trade, service provision, healthcare and education.

b/ The northern inter-district area covers 4 administrative units, namely Dinh Hoa, Vo Nhai, Phu Luong and Dong Hy districts.

- Characteristics: This area will be the province’s agricultural, forestry and mineral mining and processing area; a historical-cultural tourism and ecotourism area of the province and the northern midland and mountainous region.

- Spatial development orientations: To focus on developing urban centers, commercial services, ecological, wellness and adventure tourism; to mine and process minerals; to produce construction materials; to develop agriculture and forestry.

To intensify investment in the conservation of relics and development of biodiversity value, restoration of natural ecosystems, protection and promotion of the value of forest resources in combination with ecotourism development; to invest in building modern and complete infrastructure facilities, giving priority to transport, water drainage and wastewater treatment infrastructure facilities.

2. Plans on construction of district areas

a/ Dai Tu district area

- Characteristics: This area will be a provincial-level specialized industry, agriculture and tourism center of the province.

- Development orientations: To develop industry, agriculture, tourism and services; striving for meeting new-style countryside district standards before 2025, and by 2025, to basically meet major criteria of town standards, and by 2030, to become Dai Tu town, a grade-IV urban area.

b/ Phu Binh district area

- Characteristics: This area will be the province’s strategic industrial and service development area.

- Development orientations: To focus on industrial and service development; by 2025, to basically meet major criteria of town standards; by 2030, to strive for becoming Phu Binh town, a grade-IV urban area.

c/ Dinh Hoa district area

- Characteristics: This area will be an agricultural and tourism development area.

- Development orientations: To focus on developing agriculture, forestry, historical and ecological tourism. By the end of 2023, to meet new-style countryside district standards.

d/ Phu Luong district area

- Characteristics: This area will be an agricultural, forestry and mineral mining development area.

- Development orientations: To focus on agricultural, forestry and mineral mining development.

dd/ Vo Nhai district area

- Characteristics: This area will be an agricultural, forestry, tourism and mineral mining development area.

- Development orientations: To focus on agricultural, forestry, mineral mining and ecotourism development.

e/ Dong Hy district area

- Characteristics: This area will be an agricultural, forestry, mineral mining and tourism development area.

-Development orientations: To focus on agricultural, forestry, mineral mining and tourism development.

IX. PLANS ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION; EXPLOITATION, USE AND PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; DISASTER PREVENTION AND CONTROL AND RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

1. Plans on environmental protection, natural and biodiversity conservation

a/ Environmental protection

The province will be divided into 3 zones for environmental protection: (i) strictly protected zone, including densely populated urban areas, including inlying areas of grade-I, grade-II and grade-III urban areas (including Thai Nguyen, Song Cong
and Pho Yen cities); surface water sources of Nui Coc lake, Cong river and Cau river (water sources for domestic water supply); Than Sa-Phuong Hoang nature reserve; Dinh Hoa former resistance base’s landscape protection zone; Tam Dao national park (the part in Thai Nguyen province); (ii) low-emission zone, including protection forests surrounding Nui Coc lake;  densely populated urban areas, including inlying areas of grade-IV and grade-V urban areas (including grade-IV and grade-V urban areas in Dong Hy, Vo Nhai, Dinh Hoa, Phu Luong, Phu Binh and Dai Tu districts); mineral mining zones (except mineral mining for production of common construction materials); and surface water protection corridors in the basins of Cong and Cau rivers; and (iii) other zones, which are other areas in the province.

b/ Nature and biodiversity conservation

-  To conserve the nature and biodiversity in Than Sa-Phuong Hoang nature reserve, Tam Dao national park (the part in Thai Nguyen province), and Dinh Hoa former safety zone landscape protection zone.

- To develop conservation areas, such as Phu Dinh, Than Sa, Nui Coc lake, Sang Moc and Nghinh Tuong botanical gardens; and Than Sa wildlife sanctuaries in Than Sa-Phuong Hoang nature reserve.

c/ Environmental monitoring stations and points

The environmental monitoring network for the 2021-2030 period shall be divided into 2 types: baseline environmental monitoring and environmental impact monitoring, including 277 regular environmental monitoring points and 21 automatic, constant and fixed environmental monitoring stations for surface water and air.

d/ Forest protection and development

- By 2030, the province’s total forest area will reach 172,000 ha, in which the special-use forest area will be 35,652 ha, the protection forest area, 37,028 ha, and the production forest area, 99,320 ha.

- To set forest protection and development orientations based on the effective implementation of mechanisms and policies formulated by the central government, and concretize the national forestry master plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, in the province; to complete the forestry database, accelerate the grant of sustainable forest management certificates, develop forest environment payment services and diversify forest benefits (tours to special-use forests and protection forests, development of agriculture under the forest canopy, covering plantation of medicinal herbs and livestock production under the forest canopy).

- To manage, protect and sustainably develop the system of protection forests, special-use forests and natural forests so as to increase their resilience to climate change, while efficiently utilizing biodiversity conservation values and providing forest environment services and other services, in order to develop agro-forestry models associated with sustainable forest exploitation.

dd/ Plans on development of inter-district cemeteries and funeral homes

To set orientations for building municipal cemeteries and crematoriums under urban master plans and concentrated commune-level cemeteries under rural construction master plans; to build funeral homes in urban centers up to urban classification standards; to maintain existing cemeteries until they are fully occupied; to relocate cemeteries from urban development areas or areas failing to meet environmental requirements.

(The details are provided in Appendix XI to this Decision).

2. Plans on protection, exploitation and use of natural resources in the province

- To exploit, process and efficiently use mineral resources without causing adverse impacts on the environment and famous landscapes in the province; to close down expired and exhausted mineral mines in the 2021-2030 period; to include in plans and expand mineral mines and mines for mining minerals for use as construction materials in accordance with law.

- To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the state management of natural resources and minerals in the province in accordance with the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws; to optimize the use of earth and rock resources as ground-leveling materials for urban and transport infrastructure development projects.

(The details are provided in Appendix XII to this Decision).

3. Plans on exploitation, use and protection of water resources; prevention, control and remediation of water-caused harms

- To prioritize the allocation of water sources to entities exploiting and using water according to the following order: (i) water for domestic use; (ii) water for industrial activities; (iii) water for tourism and service provision; and (iv) water for agriculture and fisheries and other sectors.

- To improve water quality and remedy water pollution in river sections and intra-provincial watercourses that are currently polluted or fail to meet the designated use purposes; to maintain and protect quality of unpolluted surface water in order to achieve water quality targets set forth in the planning period.

- To effectively control existing and new waste sources arising in the planning period: Industrial, domestic and hospital wastewater and other types of wastewater will be collected and treated up to quality regulations.

4. Plans on disaster prevention and control and response to climate change

- To devise key and prioritized solutions to effectively respond to climate change in each sector, field or area; to carry out public communication and education to raise the people’s awareness about adverse impacts of, and concurrently strengthen the sense of responsibility of the entire population for activities in response to, climate change.

- To complete the database serving the direction of the disaster prevention and control in a coordinated and interdisciplinary manner; to install monitoring and surveillance systems in key and particularly important areas for disaster prevention and control.

- To raise the capability for forecasting and warning, proactively preventing and controlling frequent disasters such as floods, flashfloods, landslides, inundation and drought, and adapting to climate change; to organize migration and resettlement for people residing in areas frequently affected by disasters.

- To consolidate the system of river dikes, reservoirs and works for disaster prevention and control and climate change adaptation; to raise the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate change; to establish a system for monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation activities; to build and update the disaster prevention and control database in the province.

- To build and plant boundary markers of flood drainage and containment corridors; flood warning markers in areas where exist no dikes; and markers of concentrated residential areas where dike areas are permitted to exist for the immediate future; to build a system of flood drainage works in the downstream areas of Nui Coc lake on Cong river to facilitate flood prevention, control and drainage and ensure safety for flood relief reservoirs.

X. LIST OF PROJECTS PRIORITIZED FOR INVESTMENT

Based on orientations for development of key sectors and fields, to identify large and important projects that help create a driving force for growth and socio-economic development for investment and investment attraction, depending on the demand and capacity of balancing and mobilization of investment capital in each period.

(The details are provided in Appendix XIII to this Decision).

XI. MAJOR SOLUTIONS

1. Regarding mobilization of investment capital

- To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of budget revenues and expenditures and public investment; to efficiently use investment capital from the central budget and local budgets and other mobilized capital sources for investment in key projects on technical infrastructure facilities in transport, hydraulic work, power, industrial zones, cottage industry parks, urban areas and social infrastructure.

- To continue to improve the investment environment, improve the provincial competitiveness index (PCI); to focus on attracting investment in the development of industries, services, and agricultural and forestry product processing with competitive advantages of the province, and such spearhead sectors as electrical, electronic, hi-tech and supporting industries.

- To focus on developing infrastructure facilities in the southern area, and tourism infrastructure, especially in the Nui Coc lake national tourism site, so as to attract investment in order to create breakthroughs in the province’s economic development.

2. Human resource development solutions

- To build and train a contingent of qualified state management cadres in all fields.

- To formulate a strategy for human resource development to meet the province’s demand for human resources in each development period in conformity with the common development trend of the region and the whole country.

- To formulate institutions, mechanisms and policies for proper utilization of resources from the existing contingent of scientific and technical personnel; to attract highly qualified cadres, good experts, corporate managers, and skilled workers to work in the province.

- To increase investment in education and training fields and types in order to improve the intellectual level of the people, and professional qualifications and skills of workers; to rapidly increase the proportion of workers having undergone vocational training, particularly vocational training for rural workers.

- To strengthen linkages between vocational education institutions and enterprises; to apply scientific and technical advances in order to improve the management and governance capacity of enterprises, economic organizations and social organizations, thereby meeting requirements of international economic integration.

3. Digital transformation solutions

- Local Party Committees and administrations at all levels shall strengthen their leadership and direct the implementation of digital transformation directives and resolutions of the Party Central Committee and the provincial authorities.

- To formulate mechanisms and policies to step up the province’s digital transformation; to promote the human resource development to serve the digital transformation process.

- To pay attention to investing in the development of technical infrastructure to meet digital transformation requirements; to enhance the management of network security, information confidentiality and data safety; to effectively prevent acts of sabotaging and breaking into the e-government management and administration system; to participate in sharing citizen management data in such online public areas as electronic identification, storage and retrieval of people’s information.

- To mobilize and integrate resources from relevant programs and schemes to implement digital transformation, and investment sources of enterprises and communities and other lawful funding sources based on policies to promote and attract digital technology enterprises to invest in the development of digital transformation.

4. Land resource development solutions

- To step up the digital transformation in land use and management; to urgently complete land information system and database; to build a real estate market information system in association with land information.

- To properly carry out the work of ground clearance, creation of land areas and ground for attraction of investment and development projects; to intensify inspection and supervision; to promptly detect and resolutely revoke licenses of projects that are implemented behind set schedule, involve violations or cause land waste in accordance with law.

- To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of land management and use; to step up the appropriate and effective decentralization and delegation of powers among localities; to enhance inspection, examination, supervision, and handling of violations; to settle land-related disputes, complaints and denunciations; to tighten the discipline and order, and prevent and combat corruption and negative practices; to continue improving capacity of public service providers in the field of land.

5. Scientific and technological solutions

- To improve awareness of all levels, sectors and the whole society; to intensify the provision of information and public communication about the role and position of science and technology in the period of accelerated industrialization and modernization.

- To continue intensifying scientific and technological research and application in the production, preservation and processing of key and typical agricultural products of the province; to support the establishment, management and development of industrial property rights to agricultural products of the province.

- To apply science and technology to the production and trading of key products in order to improve their productivity and quality, meeting VietGap and GlobalGap standards, toward export and participation in global value chains.

6. Development association mechanism and policy solutions

- To effectively implement the Political Bureau’s Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW of February 10, 2022, on orientations for socio-economic development and assurance of national defense and security in the northern midland and mountainous region through 2030, with a vision toward 2045.

- To study and promulgate mechanisms and policies in various fields to attract resources for development, such as mechanisms and policies to develop dynamic zones, policies to attract large investors, policies to develop sectors producing environmentally friendly products, and policies to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

- To regularly review administrative procedures, build and develop e-administration; to improve the operational quality of the provincial public administrative service center; to raise the sense of responsibility, professionalism, dynamism and creativity of the contingent of cadres and civil servants in duty performance.

- To continue effectively implementing the signed cooperation programs with some localities and, at the same time, expand cooperation with other localities.

7. Urban and rural development management and control solutions

- To study urban and rural development management models and practices around the world in order to improve local administrations’ management and execution capacity; to apply technical advances in urban and rural development management in order to ensure modern, civilized and environmentally-friendly development; to formulate and synchronously implement mechanisms and policies to develop central urban centers of the region into modern and smart cities capable of leading and creating spillover effects and linking urban areas;

- To strictly manage and supervise to ensure the synchronous building of social and technical infrastructure systems connected to the common infrastructure network of the locality and adjacent areas; to continue effectively implementing national schemes and programs on urban development in response to climate change and prevention and control of disasters and epidemics; to carry out urban renovation, embellishment, reconstruction and upgrading; to build and develop smart cities.

8. Solutions for proper assurance of national defense, and firm maintenance of political security, social order and safety

To continue properly implementing resolutions of the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau, and the province’s resolutions, directives, plans and action programs on local defense and military tasks; to protect social security and order, and build the People’s Public Security force.

9. Solutions for organization and supervision of the implementation of the Master Plan

- To organize the publicization of the Master Plan under regulations.

- To organize the formulation of plans on implementation of the Master Plan under Article 45 of the Planning Law; to allocate resources for the implementation of the Master Plan.

- To formulate 5-year and annual plans, key development programs and specific projects for implementation of the Master Plan.

- To review, adjust and supplement existing master plans and formulate new ones under regulations.

- Every 5 years, to review and evaluate the implementation of the Master Plan, and add and adjust objectives as suitable to the practical situation.

XII. PLANNING MAPS

A detailed list of planning maps of Thai Nguyen province for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, is provided in Appendix XIV to this Decision.

Article 2

1. The Master Plan serves as a basis for the formulation of urban and rural master plans, and technical and specialized master plans of Thai Nguyen province in accordance with relevant laws.

2. The approval of, or decision on, investment policy and implementation of investment projects in the province, including also projects not yet identified in sector development plans, plans on development of functional areas, technical and social infrastructure systems and projects prioritized for investment promulgated together with this Decision, must be consistent with the contents specified in Article 1 of this Decision and other relevant master plans, thereby ensuring the adequate implementation thereof in accordance with the order, procedures, competence and relevant current regulations; at the same time, investment policy deciders shall take full responsibility before law for their decisions.

In the course of implementation of specific projects, agencies competent to approve or decide on investment policy shall take full responsibility before law for determining project locations, areas, scale and capacity and investment phases, ensuring the conformity with their implementation schedules and the province’s practical conditions and development requirements in each period and in accordance with relevant current regulations.

3. For projects planned for investment after 2030, if having investment demands to serve socio-economic development and being capable of mobilizing and allocating sufficient resources for implementation, agencies assigned to assume the prime responsibility for implementing the projects shall report them to competent authorities for consideration and approval of their earlier investment.

Article 3

1. Responsibilities of the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province

a/ To organize the announcement and disclosure of the Master Plan after it is approved by the Prime Minister in accordance with the planning law.

b/ To formulate and submit to the competent agency for promulgation the Plan on implementation of the Master Plan to the competent agency for promulgation; to organize the implementation of the Master Plan in association with the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in the province; to evaluate the implementation of the Master Plan in accordance with Planning Law No. 21/2017/QH14.

c/ To study, formulate and promulgate or submit to competent authorities for promulgation mechanisms and policies in accordance with law to meet development requirements and to mobilize resources for implementation of the Master Plan.

d/ To continue ensuring satisfaction of environmental protection requirements and activities upon organizing the implementation of projects on implementation of the Master Plan, ensuring the harmony between socio-economic development and environmental protection, thus contributing to sustainable development; to organize environmental monitoring, supervision and management; to store environmental databases and share environmental information and databases to serve digital transformation in the course of implementation of the Master Plan.

dd/ To review the Master Plan after national and regional master plans are decided or approved by competent authorities. If detecting any inconsistency with higher-level master plans, to urgently take measures to ensure their consistency in order to ensure lawful rights and interests of related organizations and individuals; to promptly report to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval adjustments to the Master Plan under Point c, Clause 1, Article 2 of the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 61/2022/QH15 of June 16, 2022.

2. The Chairperson of the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province shall take full responsibility before law and inspection and examination agencies for the accuracy of contents, information, data, documents, maps and databases in the Master Plan’s dossiers; appendices to sector development plans, plans on development of functional areas, technical and social infrastructure facilities and the list of projects prioritized for investment in the planning period promulgated together with this Decision.

Article 4. Related ministries and sectors shall, within the ambit of their assigned functions and tasks, guide the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province in implementing the Master Plan; and when necessary, coordinate with the provincial authorities in studying, formulating or submitting to competent authorities for promulgation appropriate mechanisms and policies in order to mobilize and efficiently use resources for the implementation of the Master Plan.

Article 5. This Decision takes effect on the date of signing.

Article 6. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and the Chairperson of the People’s Committee of Thai Nguyen province shall implement this Decision.-

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
TRAN HONG HA

* The Appendices to this Decision are not translated.