News Detail - Quang Tri Portal

1. General aggregates

In 2007, the provincial socio - economic situation has continuously developed stably. Remarkable progress has been made in socio - economic fields. Economy has remained a fair growth rate. Technical and material facilities, socio-economic infrastructure have been strengthened. A lot of changes have been seen in social and cultural fields. The people’s spiritual life has been improved. National defence and security have been upheld.

Despite such brilliant achievements, the socio - economic life in the province still faces many difficulties namely: unstable economic growth; the capacity of competition has remained low; economic structure has been transformed but not strong enough. Work of administrative reform and investment promotion has seen much progress and achieved good results, but far behind the set goal. The project implementation progress has remained low; budget receipt has not been unstable. Work of training and development of human resources has not yet met the requirements for socio-economic development. Work of healthcare for the people has been limited; the people’s life in remote, far-flung areas and ethnic minority people is still hard; many problems have remained unsolved.

* Estimated the implementation results of main indicators of 2007, as follows:

- Gross domestic products (GDP) achieved 11.63% (the plan: 12% - 12.5%)

- Agriculture, forestry and fishery production value increased by 2.9% (the plan: 4% - 4.5%)

- Industrial production value rose by 23.1% (the plan: 25% - 26%)

- Value of services increased by 12.7% (the plan: 11% - 11.5%)

- For economic structure: the agriculture - forestry - fishery contributed 25.8% (the plan: 22.8%); industry - construction 35.4% (the plan: 38.5%); service 38.8% (the plan 38.7%)

- Food output gained 23.5 ten thousand tons (the plan of 24.5 - 25 ten thousand tons)

- Export turnover was estimated at USD 53.5 million (the plan: USD 40 - 41 million)

- Budget receipts was estimated at VND 726.2 billion (the yearly plan: VND 659 billion)

- Rate of hunger and poverty households decreased by 4.5% (the plan: 4% - 4.5%)

- Job creation for 2.75 ten thousand laborers (the plan: 2.5 - 2.7 ten thousand laborers)

- Secondary compulsory education achieved 96.2% of number of communes and wards (the yearly plan: 96% - 97%)

- Rate of malnourished children under 5 years old decreased by 29.6% (the plan: 28%)

- Rate of birth decreased by 0.32%o (the plan: 0.40 - 0.45%o)

- Rate of rural household using hygienic water achieved 62.0% (the plan: 62 - 63%)

2. Agriculture, forestry and fishery

a. Agriculture

- Cultivation: In 2007, bad weather caused heavy damages for agricultural production, especially summer-autumn production crop and winter production crop. However, with the implementation of effective solutions, the flood-hit losses were minimized remarkably. Plant structure has continuously shifted from growing rice paddies that bring little profit to raising aquatic products and growing more profitable plant.

- Animal husbandry: Program for animal husbandry development has been focused on direction. A lot of changes have been seen in encouraging policy. Number of the herd of cattle has increased remarkably; the quality of the herd of cattle has gradually been improved. Work of inspection and control has been constrained; no new outbreak was discovered.

b. Forestry: Wood cut production gained 34,885 m3, 9,500 m3 of which is natural forest wood, achieving 105.56% of the plan; planted forest wood was 25,385 m3. The areas of concentrated forestation was estimated at 4,220 ha, achieved 100% of the plan; the areas of separated forestation were 4 million trees, gained 100% of the plan. Illegal logging and burning of the forest have been controlled.

c. Fishery: Fishery development program has been deployed with many effective solutions and gained good results. Total fishery production was estimated to achieve 36,800 tons, equaling 109.5% of the plan, increasing by 7.76% against the same period.

3. Industry - handicraft

Industry and handicraft have seen great leaps. Productivity has been raised remarkably. Most of industrial products have developed stably and increased fairly compared with year 2006, concretely: clinker and cement output increased by 15.27%, ceramic tiles rose by 13.5%, different kinds of beer increased by 91% and so on. The quality of products has been improved. Some industrial products have asserted their trademark in the foreign and domestic market, namely: cement, brewery, ceramic tiles, etc.

4. Trade, service

- Domestic trade: Interior trade activity has seen a continual growth. Trade service network has been expanded; the quantity, quality and model of goods have been more and more increasing, abundant and diversified, meeting the increasing demand of the society.

- Export: Export activity has remained a high growth. Export turnovers has increased dramatically, achieving 130.5% of the plan, increasing by 38.2% against the same period. Some main export commodities like saw wood, rubber, pine resin, etc. Export market has been expanded; more and more non-state economic sectors have joined in export activity.

- Import: Import turnover was estimated at USD 19.8 million, increasing 3.53% compared with the same period. Some main import commodities like aluminium, material wood serving production, processing and re-exportation and some consumer goods.

- Tourism: This sector has developed fast and has asserted itself as a very important economic sector. Infrastructure has been continuously invested and upgraded. The system of hotels and restaurants have been expanded, the quality and attitude of service have been improved. Much progress has been noted in work of security and order, environmental sanitation, food hygiene. Therefore, number of arrivals for tourism has increased stably compared with last year. Many tourism development and investment projects have been being invested in main tourist sites like Phong Nha - Ke Bang World Natural Heritage, Vung Chua - Dao Yen eco-tourist area, Nhat Le - Bao Ninh.

5. Investment promotion

In 2007, the province has deployed many main solutions to lure investment and timely promulgated the Program for business and investment environment improvement of 2007, supplemented the investment preferential policies and focused on the implementation of main solutions, namely: infrastructure development, administrative reform, development of human resources and forms of services.

In 2007, the province held workshops on investment promotion in Japan and South Korea to introduce and popularize the province’s potentials and strengths and lure investment. Therefore, investment promotion has been seen great leaps. Many investors and large economic corporations have registered investment projects in Quang Binh, namely: Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), Vietnam Electricity Corporation, Vietnam Rubber Industry Corporation, Chi Thanh Company, Dong Duong Company, Linh Thanh Company, Dong Duong Joint-stock Company, etc.

So far, the province has had 56 investment projects with total invested capital of VND 7,163 billion. Of which, some large-scale projects played an important role in the province’s socio-economic development, namely: manufacturing clinker and cement, building Hon La seaport (phase II), shipbuilding, building hydroelectric plants, resort areas, Bang eco-tourist area, golf court, hospital, hostel and school, etc. 22 projects have been issued the Investment Certificate with total registered capital of VND 1,600 billion.

6. Finance - Credit

They have played an active part in raising financial resources. Financial and credit organizations have adopted sound measures in allocating mobilized capital. Economic elements and key economic programs have prioritized to get the loans. Total mobilized capital was estimated at VND 3,145 billion, increasing by 39.8% against the same period. Loan turnovers achieved VND 5,511 billion, increasing 40%; outstanding debts as of end of 2007 was VND 6,300 billion, increasing 24.6% compared with the end of 2006.

7. Foreign economy

So far, 11 ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects has been being operated in the whole province with total reimbursed capital of US$19 million, reached 90,48% under the commitment. In 2007, the province received the aids from 13 non-governmental organizations, worth USD2.174 million, focusing on sustainable agricultural development, community development, natural conservation, construction of infrastructure, heart surgery for children, etc. Moreover, some new projects under ODA capital are being implemented in the province, such as: Phong Nha - Ke Bang Natural Resource Development and Conservation Project, KFW project being prepared for signing, natural calamity repair project, general rural development project, projects with JBIC capital and so on.

Source: Report No.73/BC-UBND dated November 29 2007