Part 1: Model of gigantic development
After more than 25 years of construction and development, Binh Duong has obtained many important achievements. The province’s economic growth is high with people's lives constantly improved, social and cultural issues ceaselessly developed, national defense and security guaranteed, the building of Party constantly reinforced. However, in the face of development requirements, the new period is also posing many problems, requiring Binh Duong to have a fundamental transformation to ensure rapid and sustainable development.
During the journey being full of challenges from the first days of provincial separation to the current growth spurt, Binh Duong has transformed itself, rising to become a province with gigantic growth, one of the whole country’s industrial and urban centers, connecting provinces and cities of the Southern key economic region.
Economic and urban breakthrough
Prof. Dr. Ta Ngoc Tan, former member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Vice-Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council affirmed that Binh Duong's development is a very special model in Vietnam. “We speak highly of achievements done by Binh Duong over the past time. This is a bright spot, vividly reflecting the great and historically significant achievements of the country's renewal process. Especially, Binh Duong's innovative development model was selected by the Central Theoretical Council to implement the Project on “Reviewing Binh Duong province’s development model in the process of national reform with vision to 2050”. We believe and expect that this model will further develop and become a model in efforts to overcome the middle-income trap and develop sustainably towards a smart, civilized and modern city in the region and the whole country in the future", Prof.Dr. Ta Ngoc Tan emphasized.
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Binh Duong has transformed itself and risen to become a locality with gigantic development, one of the country’s modern industrial and urban hubs
It can be affirmed that after more than 25 years of construction and development, Binh Duong has created breakthrough changes in economic and urban development. From a locality mainly producing agricultural products and handicrafts, Binh Duong has had outstanding development with economic indicators, dozens of times higher than at the first period of being separated. The local population increased by nearly 5 times. The scale of the economy increased by 104 times and State budget revenue increased by 75 times. The local people’s average income per capita has so far reached VND170million per person per year. With such figure, Binh Duong is considered as a locality with the highest per capita income in the country.
The province's economic structure has shifted positively with 3% in agricultural production, 67% in economic structure and 21% in services. Binh Duong has become a bright spot of the whole country in investment attraction. Noticeably, the province’s foreign investment has so far reached over US$40 billion. The local system of socio-economic infrastructure has been invested in a synchronous and modern way. The local urbanization rate is fast, reaching over 84%. Especially, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) has honored Binh Duong Smart Region as one of 21 communities with the world’s typical smart city development strategies for many recent consecutive years.
Nguyen Van Loi, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly deputy delegation emphasized that the above mentioned achievements were crystallized from the spirit of solidarity, unity, creativity and innovation; was the result of a process of persistently and continuously striving from many generations of leaders, the entire political system, business community and people in the province.
Role-model in industrialization and modernization
Binh Duong is still a destination for domestic and foreign investors, especially strategic ones. The province is the most modern industrial hub in Vietnam and is also one of the country’s few localities with many "billion dollar" factories. Especially, Binh Duong has very successful businesses in all three State, non-State and FDI types. Recently, Lego Group has decided to invest in the world's most modern factory with its first carbon neutral technology capitalized at more than US$1.3 billion, showing that Binh Duong is a bright spot on the world’s industrial map.
Regarding practical experience in industrial development in Binh Duong, Dr. Huynh Ngoc Dang, Chairman of provincial Historical Science Association shared a real story of Binh Duong asking for permission from the Government to invest in upgrading National Highway 13. In the context of the country still facing many difficulties with limited central budget, by 1997, there was still no specific plan from the Ministry of Transport to upgrade and expand National Highway 13. Meanwhile, the requirements of the local industrialization along with the urge of new opportunities did not allow Binh Duong province to sit and wait. The first action of Binh Duong province was to persuade the Ministry of Transport and boldly ask the Government for permission to upgrade and expand National Highway 13. Although there were mixed opinions, the Ministry of Transport and the Government agreed to allow the province to implement the project.
“The construction of National Highway 13 has significantly contributed to the socio-economic innovation and construction progress of the Southeastern region in general and Binh Duong in particular. National Highway 13 has become the backbone of the province, a prerequisite and laid an important foundation in the formation of industrial parks, namely VSIP, My Phuoc 1, 2, 3, Bau Bang..., contributing to strongly attracting FDI capital, thereby clearly changing the local socio-economic image", said Dr. Huynh Ngoc Dang.
After more than a quarter of a century of construction, Binh Duong has obtained impressive achievements in all aspects. However, in the face of the new development requirements, many problems are also being raised, requiring Binh Duong to have a fundamental transformation to ensure rapid and sustainable development. Binh Duong has continued to hearing and acknowledging enthusiastic opinions with multi-dimensional perspectives, suggestions and proposals from experts, researchers, scholars... in order to reach its broader prospects and visions and create a driving force for new growth, making more contributions to the overall development of the country.
Reported by Ngoc Thanh-Translated by Kim Tin
