Hau Giang Reaching for Modern, Sustainable Development

The five year socioeconomic development plan (2011-2015) sets 19 key indicators and Hau Giang province has achieved all 19 indicators, with 11 exceeding the targets and seven matching the objectives. Economic growth, economic restructuring, and labour structure have made a progress. Annual economic growth averaged at 13.12 percent, almost touching the target of 13.5 percent. The economic restructure of Region 1, Region 2 and Region 3 was 23.75 percent, 34.25 percent and 42 percent in 2015, respectively. People's life has improved quite clearly, with GDP per capita reaching VND36.5 million (US$1,699) in 2015, 2.3 times higher than that in 2010 and equal to 81 percent of the average in the Mekong Delta region (where GDP per capita is expected at VND45 million in 2015). Total social investment capital in 5 years was VND61,560 billion, representing an annualised growth of 11.99 percent.

 

Together with economic, cultural and social development, the social security has been progressive. In five years, the province has created 114,506 jobs for local people, 4.1 percent in excess of the plan. The proportion of trained workers has reached 40 percent as expected. The poverty rate fell 2-3 percent a year on average to 6.9 percent by the end of 2015 (18 percent in the plan) and the near-poverty ratio has fallen to 6.39 percent, better than the plan. The quality of education, training and medical services has been increasingly advanced, thus contributing to stability and improvement of people's living quality.

 

To develop rice, fish and fruit, Hau Giang advocates improving the value and sustainability of these key products. The province has changed crops on 3,570 ha of paddy field and kept the rice-growing area at 77,200 ha (out of 205,500 ha of arable area), with an average productivity of 6.2 tonnes per hectare (an increase of 0.4 tonnes over the 2011-2015 period). The rice output reached 1.2 million tonnes a year. Hau Giang is completing a high-quality rice field on 32,000 ha of land, of which 5,000 - 10,000 ha will grow rice according to customers’ orders.

 

The province has striven to catch 206,000 tonnes of aquatic products by 2020, representing an average annual growth of 15-16 percent. Aquaculture area is expected at 11,000 ha in 2020, an increase of 4,000 ha over 2015. Harmoniously combining commercial fishing with protection of fishery resources, the province has restricted destructive fishing, and will maintain aquatic output at 3,000 tonnes a year till 2020.

 

In addition to developing ​​fruit tree areas, the province has focused on replanting fruit trees on 7,000 ha of gardens in Chau Thanh district and Nga Bay town. Besides, Hau Giang has transformed a part of sugarcane areas in Phung Hiep to grow fruit trees. The province expects to have 30,000 ha of fruit trees by 2020, which will bear 315,000 tonnes of fruits a year, an increase of 89,000 tonnes over 2015. Particularly, 15,000 ha, or 50 percent of fruit areas, will plant citrus trees; 2,000 ha will plant pineapple, 5,000 ha will plant mango trees and the rest will grow various fruits, depending on soil conditions and market demands.

 

In the past years, with the strong support of the government, ministries and agencies , the effective cooperation with other localities in the region and in the country, Hau Giang has endeavoured to overcome enormous challenges and difficulties and grasp advantages and favourable to invest in socioeconomic infrastructure development. Some completed important projects are producing pervasive effects and motivational boosts to socioeconomic development and giving a facelift to Hau Giang province.

 

In rural transport development, in the past five years, the province has built 1,183 km of roads and 857 bridges with a total investment capital of VND1,637 billion. Well-built roads to communes, capable of supporting automobiles, have facilitated cultural and societal development and investment attraction into rural areas, thus helping create more jobs for local people, reduce poverty, ensure social security, and advance the implementation of the national target programme on construction of new rural areas. Currently, the province has 71 out of 74 communes, wards and towns with roads capable of supporting automobiles to their administrative centres, or 96 percent.

 

During the past five years of implementation, the new countryside construction programme achieved many positive results (early completion and active support of local people. Dai Thanh commune, Nga Bay town is an early commune to complete all 19 criteria of new countryside construction in the Mekong Delta. Hau Giang province has also witnessed a progress in material and spiritual life of rural people, better infrastructure, cultural, health, education, communication, electricity and water works. To date, the province has 10 communes recognised as meeting new countryside standards. On average, a commune has completed 11.65 criteria. Nga Bay town is considered being certified a district of new countryside.

 

Implementing Directive 13/2009/CT-UBND of the Provincial People’s Committee dated November 26, 2009 on continued promotion of information technology (IT) application and electronic sending and delivery of documents in State agencies in Hau Giang province, the introduction and expansion of IT to administrative apparatus has been intensified in the past five years. The Provincial People’s Committee issued Plan 07/KH-UBND dated March 14, 2011 on IT application in the 2011 - 2015 period, use of computers, electronic equipment, networks and software to State agencies from grassroots to provincial levels to improve the quality of administrative services.

 

Hau Giang has completed institutions and technical infrastructures for commissioning online video-conferencing system, which is connected to central authorities and to district and grassroots agencies in the province as well. Furthermore, the Provincial People’s Committee has deployed an electronic software programme to all State agencies from provincial to communal levels. All State agencies have internet-enabled LAN networks. Most civil servants have business emails. The province has maintained and enhanced the operational efficiency of the Project "Improving computer literacy and public internet access in Vietnam" funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in public libraries and cultural post offices. Hau Giang is investing VND900 million to carry out a document management software construction project and adopt digital signatures and authentication of digital signatures in State agencies.

 

Websites of the Provincial People’s Committee, provincial agencies and districts have been built and operated. To date, a total of 40 provincial and district agencies have websites. A lot of administrative procedures have been carried out on the internet environment. The adoption of the ISO 9001: 2008 quality management system in State administrative bodies at provincial and district levels has produced good results.

 

With efforts of the Party and the government in administrative reform and investment and business environment improvement, Hau Giang province has really built up the trust and gained appreciation of the business community. In the past years, Hau Giang has constantly raised its rankings of provincial competitiveness index (PCI). In 2014, its PCI ranked 25^th out of 63 provinces and cities across the country and eighth out of 13 Mekong Delta provinces and cities. This progress was largely attributed to IT application to administrative reform.