Buon Ho Town: Calling for Investment to Develop Infrastructure

Buon Ho is located 40 km southeast of Buon Ma Thuot City and more than 50 km from Ea H'leo - the northern gate of the province - along Highway 14 running through the Central Highlands. The highway gives Buon Ho easy access to other areas across the region such as Krong Buk, Krong Nang, Cu M'gar and even a wide area at the gateway of Buon Ma Thuot. According to Mr Pham Thai, because of this advantageous location, Buon Ho is considered a major economic and cultural centre in the existing chain of centres of Dak Lak province and the Central Highlands. However, for it to develop into a growth driver for the whole northern sub-region, Buon Ho first needs more attention and investment from the central and provincial governments. Particularly, for the short term, it’s necessary to have an immediate resettlement project for local people in the process of expansion; an arrangement for agencies categorized by functional areas based on the planning approved by authorities.

 

Pursuing these goals, Standing Board of the Provincial Committee issued Resolution 08-NQ/TU dated February 3, 2012 on construction and development of Buon Ho Town in 2011-2015 and orientation to 2020. The resolution prioritises investment, development and establishment of trade centres, agricultural product processing industrial zones, financial services, transportation and travel, to help the economy of Northern Dak Lak reach its potential. By 2015, the economic growth rate of Buon Ho is expected to be over 14 percent, of which the agriculture - forestry - fishery group will make a breakthrough with approximately 12.16 percent/year while industry - construction 15.5 percent and trade - service more than 16.15 percent. Accordingly, the economic structure of the town will gradually shift towards industrialisation, trade - service supporting agriculture - forestry with proportion about 40-42 percent of the regional economy. For the time ahead, Mr Thai said that the Party and local authorities would be focusing all resources on developing urban centres, including planning and building new residential areas of An Lac, An Binh, Dat Hieu, Thien An; continuing to develop and improve the power grid, telecommunications networks and road system in the city, as well as the suburbs. Also according to Mr Thai, so far the policy of attracting investment in infrastructure development has been promoted strongly in Buon Ho. There are already dozens of infrastructure projects approved and waiting for the investors such as inter-commune roads Buon Ho - Doan Ket, Buon Ho - Ea Blang - Ea Sien, Buon Ho - Ea Phe (Krong Pac District), Buon Ho inner ring road connecting eastern and western towns, bridges and other important infrastructure.

 

Five years after being promoted to town-level (2008-2013), the authorities and people of Buon Ho have made considerable efforts to develop a new face making the town worthy of urban centre standing. In addition to the detailed planning for the functional sectors of administrative, trade - services, tourism and culture – sports etc, the town authorities have mobilised all local and external resources to build important facilities: water supplier capacity of 8,000m3/day sponsored by JICA and KOICA; low-voltage grid expanding to the communes of Cu Bao, Ea Sien, Ea Dron, the wards of Dat Hieu and Thong Nhat; upgraded road-lighting; a completed town park. Mr Pham Thai evaluated these projects as a "hinge" to help open a new development stage for the years ahead, as the spirit set by Resolution 08.

 

Compared with the targets, the aforementioned achievements are only the first steps creating the momentum for acceleration in the 2015-2020 period. However, according to Mr Pham Thai, localities have been working hard to speed up urbanisation through dynamic, flexible guidelines and policies such as effective use of investment resources from the national budget, mobilising all resources contributed by people, businesses and other local economic sectors. In particular, the People’s Committee from all wards and communes of Buon Ho Town have created a Board of Infrastructure Construction (including subcommittees: mobilization, advocacy and professional planning) to support the authorities achieve the development target approved by all levels of the People’s Council. This preparation has created favourable conditions for all the investment projects in infrastructure construction to be implemented smoothly. Of VND484 billion invested in 21 inner and inter-regional roads since 2011, about VND12 billion was mobilised from local people (in the form of land or property donation) to upgrade and expand many roads in residential areas. The people have been supporting and responding positively to the motto "the State and the people working together". They are aware that when the criteria of socioeconomic, urban development and social infrastructure are promoted, their living standards will also get a lift.

 

Reports on the 5-year plan of building and developing Buon Ho Town shows that in recent time, making use of the people’s contributions and the State’s investment, Buon Ho has upgraded more than 85 percent of local roads, most city roads are now asphalt and have lighting systems, the landscape and environment has also been change towards civilization. If the work of advocate, propaganda and investment attracting is continued, the construction Buon Ho into a nucleus of the northern Dak Lak gateway area will soon become a reality. Even though there are difficulties ahead, the result from the last 5 years has shown that with the consensus between the government and the people, a brand new urban centre is coming into being.