1. Scope for the planning formulation

The scope for the formulation of the master plan of Quang Binh’s urban areas include Dong Hoi city and districts of Le Thuy, Quang Ninh, Bo Trach, Quang Trach, Tuyen Hoa and Minh Hoa with the total land area of about 8,065 kilometers, which will be limited as follows:

– Adjacent to Ha Tinh province in the north;

– Adjacent to Quang Tri province in the south;

– Adjacent to the Lao People's Democratic Republic in the west;

– Adjacent to the East Sea in the east.

2. Characteristics

- Be a large synthetic economic region with the main sectors including industry, services, tourism, agriculture, forestry, fishery, sea economy;

- Be the sub-regional centre of the North Central region;

- Be the important gateway of transport, trade exchange with Laos and Thailand via Cha Lo International Border Gate and Hon La Seaport;

- Be an important ecological area with potential for development of ecotourism and cultural and historical tourism;

- Be a development area with forestry, processing industry, miming, construction material production; agriculture and fishery;

- Possess an important position in the national defense security.

3. Population size

- By 2020: total population is about 950,000 persons, of which urban population is about 306,000 (accounting for 32.2%), rural population is about 644,000 (accounting for 67.8%);

- By 2030: total population is about 1,070,000 persons, of which urban population is about 498,500 (accounting for 46.6%), rural population is about 571,500 (accounting for 54.4%).

4. Land size

– Urban construction land: By 2020, the urban construction land is 9,200 - 9,600 ha; by 2030, the urban construction land is 16,500 - 17,500 ha;

- Rural construction land: By 2020, the urban construction land is 6,000 – 6,500 ha; by 2030, the urban construction land is 5,800 - 6,000 ha.

5. Objectives for development

- Concretize policies and strategies for socio-economic development of the Government and the master plan on socio-economic development of Quang Binh province to 2020.

- Effectively bring into the fullest play regional relations, the advantages in tourism, power, minerals, agriculture, forestry, culture, ecology and geographical locations to promote the province’s socio-economic development.

- Define key areas and economic axis.

- Orient the planning for urban space organization, develop residents, build models for provincial regional space development, establish system of urban areas. Orient distribution for construction space of industry, agriculture, services, tourism, social infrastructure, rural residential areas, industrial parks, economic zones.

- Establish legal basis for planning on construction and development of urban and rural areas, build programs and plans and form policies for development, investment projects and rational use of resources.

- Define technical infrastructure for urban development, economic zones, industrial parks and other functional zones.

6. Orientation for regional development

6.1. Orientation for regional space development

a. Subdivision for economic and urban space development

- Central economic subregion: includes Dong Hoi city, Bo Trach district and northern region of Quang Ninh district (Quan Hau town, Luong Ninh and Vinh Ninh communes) with a total area of 234,000 ha and a population of 304,459 persons. Dong Hoi city is an administrative, political, economic, cultural and social, scientific and technical center of Quang Binh province. The bases for development of the urban center shall be trade, services, tourism, industry, agriculture, forestry, fishery and sea economy.

- Northern subregion: includes districts of Quang Trach, Tuyen Hoa and Minh Hoa with a total area of 317,800 ha and a population of 334,435 persons. This is a general economic zone, the bases for development shall be seaport, interdisciplinary industry, construction material industry, processing industry, economic and trade exchanges at border gates, agriculture, forestry and fishery and other trade services.

- Southern agro-forestry ecological subregion: includes Le Thuy district and communes of Quang Ninh district (apart from Quan Hau town, Luong Ninh and Vinh Ninh communes) with a total area of 254.700 ha and a population of 219,030 persons. Kien Giang town is defined as a center of the subregion. The bases for development of subregion shall be windy power, development of agriculture, forestry and fishery; industry and handicrafts, trade village, historical and cultural tourism, spiritual tourism.

b. Orientations for development of urban and rural system

- By 2020: it is expected to have 13 urban areas, including:

+ 01 second-grade urban area: strive to bring Dong Hoi city to become a second-grade urban area before 2016. It will be an administrative unit, a economic, political, cultural, scientific and technical center of the province.

+ 03 fourth-grade urban area, including:

* Ba Don urban area (recognized as a town in 2013): being an urban area directly under the province. Develop trade-service, industry and tourism.

* Hoan Lao urban area: it is expected to upgrade into the fourth-grade urban area before 2020 and into a town before 2030. It is a capital of Bo Trach district, an administrative, political, cultural center of Bo Trach district.

* Kien Giang urban area: it is expected to upgrade into a fourth-grade urban area and a town before 2020. Being an administrative, economic, political, cultural center of Le Thuy district.

+ 09 fifth-grade urban area: 05 existing urban areas and 04 newly built urban areas, including: urban areas of Dong Le, Quy Dat, Quan Hau, Viet Trung, Le Ninh, Hon La – Quang Phu, Quang Phuong, Phong Nha and Dinh Muoi.

- By 2030: it is expected to have 19 urban areas, including:

+ 01 second-grade urban area: Dong Hoi city

+ 05 fourth-grade urban areas: including Hon La – Quang Phu, Ba Don, Kien Giang, Hoan Lao and Dong Le.

+ 13 fifth-grade urban areas, including 06 existing urban areas and planned urban areas by 2020 (Quy Dat, Viet Trung Farm, Le Ninh Farm, Phong Nha tourism urban area, Quang Phuong and Dinh Muoi) and 7 newly built urban areas (Cha Lo – Bai Dinh of Minh Hoa district, Hoa Tien of Minh Hoa district, Tien Hoa of Tuyen Hoa district, Thanh Ha (Thanh Khe) of Bo Trach district, Ang Son of Quang Ninh district, Phuc Trach (Trooc) of Bo Trach district and Ca Roong afforestation yards in Thuong Trach commune of Bo Trach district.

c. Orientation for organizing rural residential area

According to Decision No.491/QD-TTg dated April 16, 2009 of the Prime Minister regarding approval of national set of criteria on new rural development.

6.2. Orientation for urban technical infrastructure plan to 2030

a. Transport:

* Roadway:

- North-South highway: 4-6 lanes

- National Road 1A: four lanes for motor cars and two lanes for motorcycles;

- National Road 12A, 12C, 15: upgrading to third-level standard road;

- Build new route from Dong Hoi to Ca Roong border gate;

- Upgrade National road 9B from Quan Hau to Vinh Tuy – Van Ninh – Tang Ky – Chut Mut border gate;

- Upgrade provincial road 565 from National road 1A (Cam Lien T-junction) to the western branch of Ho Chi Minh road into national road;

- Urban transport: construction according to urban planning

- Rural transport: according the standard of new rural development

- Parking: build 17 bus stations

* Railway:

- North-South railway: upgrade railway stations and equipment

- Newly build a high-speed railway route from Ha Tinh through Quang Binh to Laos. Build a railway route from Hon La to Tien – Chau – Van Hoa industrial complex.

* Seaport, inland seaway:

- Seaport: Pursuant to Decision No. 1743/QD-BGTVT of August 3, 2011, approving the detailed master plan on the seaport group in Central Central Vietnam (Group 3) through 2020, with orientations toward 2030
- Inland seaway: Pursuant to Decision No. 955/QD-UBND of April 22 2013, approving the master plan on inland seaway transport of Quang Binh province through 2020.

* Airway: By 2020, upgrading Dong Hoi Airport to an international airport.

b. Technical preparation for construction land

- Ground height: building height control for urban areas according to the criteria on flood and landslide safety; management on building height management and control of main rivers, streams and cannals.

- Complete system of drainage for urban areas to reach 100% of urban roads having sullage pits and 70% of suburban roads having sullage pits.

c. Irrigration planning:

- All water storage lakes will be planned and used for agriculture. Five lakes are upgraded to serve industry and weekly activities, including: Vuc Tron, Song Thai, Vuc Noi, Phu Vinh and Phu Hoa lakes. Bau Tro lake is only exploited for weekly activities.

- Large lakes are upgraded, including: Khe Van and Cau Vong lakes of Quang Ninh district, Rao Nan and Ke Am of Quang Trach district and Nuoc Nong lake of Minh Hoa district.

- Planning natural disaster prevention project.

d. Water supply:

- Water supply standards:

+ By 2020: Dong Hoi city reaches 150 litter/person/day and night, meeting 90% of population. Ba Don town and Hon La economic zone reaches 120 litter/person/day and night, meeting 90% of population. Rural area reaches 60 litter/person/day and night, meeting 85% of population.

+ By 2030: Dong Hoi city reaches 180 litter/person/day and night, meeting 95% of population. Ba Don town and Hon La economic zone reaches 150 litter/person/day and night, meeting 95% of population. Rural area reaches 80 litter/person/day and night, meeting 90% of population.

+ Concentrated industry reaches 22-40 m3/ha/day and night, meeting 70% of total area.

- Water demand:

+ By 2020: 115,578 m3/day and night in urban areas and industrial parks and 35,649 m3/day and night in rural areas.

+ By 2030: 184,709 m3/day and night in urban areas and industrial parks and 45,009 m3/day and night in rural areas.

- Water sources: distributed from lakes and rivers in the province such as Dong Hoi City from lakes of Phu Vinh, Bau Tro, Rao Da, and Trooc Trau; Quy Dat urban area from Tan Ly river; Hoa Tien urban area from La Trong hydroelectric lake or Gianh river; Ba Don town from Rao Nan river and Tien Lang lake.

e. Electricity supply:

- By 2020: total load: 373.9 MW, equivalent to 439.8 MVA

- By 2030: total load 609.6 MW equivalent to 717.1 MVA.

- Electricity supply is allocated from the national grid; newly build Quang Trach thermo-electric center in Quang Dong commune, Quang Trach district with a capacity of 2x600MW for the first phase and 2x600MW for the second phase.

- Transformer stations: newly build 220KV substation in Ba Don with a capacity of 2x250MVA; 220KV substation in Hon La with a capacity of 2x250MVA; 220KV substation in Kien Giang with a capacity of 250MVA; 110KV substations in industrial parks and cement plants.

f. Telecommunications: build telecommunication infrastructures with modern technology, covering the whole province with good transmission quality.

g. Wastewater drainage:

- Urban areas: build a combined wastewater treatment system in Dong Hoi city, Hoan Lao, Ba Don and Phong Nha. Build a concentrated waste treatment station for each urban area.

- Industrial parks and economic zones: use its owned waste treatment system such as Cha Lo Border Gate Economic Zone and Hon La Economic Zone and new urban areas.

- Rural areas: use waste treatment according to natural biological method.

h. Solid waste treatment

- Build solid waste treatment complexes in communes of Ly Trach and Bo Trach with a scope of construction of 35 ha to serve for Dong Hoi city, Hoan Lao, Viet Trung Farm and some communes of Bo Trach district.

- Build a solid waste treatment complex in Quang Luu commune of Quang Trach district with a scope of 25 ha to serve for Ba Don town, Quang Trach district and Hon La Economic Zone.

- Invest in construction of recycling plants at the complexes in Quang Luu commune and Le Thuy district.

- Build incinerators to treat industrial solid waste at three concentrated treatment areas in districts of Minh Hoa, Quang Trach and Quang Ninh and treat health solid waste at eight hospitals, including Vietnam – Cuba Dong Hoi hospital and seven general hospitals at districts.

k. Environmental protection:

- Protect coastal environment from Hon La to Le Thuy: oil pollution control, technology innovation and use of biological products.

- Protect environment in urban and rural development areas:

+ Form green belts in the city and industrial parks

+ Give a priority to the forms of environmentally friendly and clean industry

+ Protect cultural heritage site and conserve ecological diversity

+ Strengthen protection of watershed forest and protective forest in coastal region.

+ Collect and deal with source of waste water and garbages, ensuring hygience standards

7. Programs and projects given priority investment by 2020

7.1. Program:

- Urban development in the whole province

- Develop and upgrade urban areas in Dong Hoi, Kien Giang and Hoan Lao; newly build urban areas in Phong Nha, Quang Phuong, Dinh Muoi and Hon La.

- Construct infrastructures of Hon La Economic Zone and Cha Lo International Border Gate Economic Zone.

- Develop tourism areas.

- Build infrastructures for high-quality tourism development in association with natural heritage conservation in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park.

- Strenthen infrastructure in rural areas such as traffic, clean water supply and electric supply.

- Protect environment, natural disaster prevention.

- Upgrade and build system of social infrastructures: health, school, public trade services.

- Develop houses for low-income persons; resettlement houses, build solid houses for residents in coastal region and estuaries.

- Build infrastructure projects: traffic works on roadway, railway, seaway and airway.

7.2. Projects:

- Upgrade urban infrastructures in Dong Hoi, Kien Giang and Hoan Lao.

- Newly build urban areas in Phong Nha, Quang Phuong, Dinh Muoi, Hon La.

- Build Hon La Economic Zone and Cha Lo International Border Gate Economic Zone

- Upgrade infrastructure for Phong Nha tourism and service center

- Build system of technical infrastructure to quickly form Chut Mut border gate

- Build a new route from Dong Hoi to Ca Roong border gate.

- Upgrade the route of National road 9B from Quan Hau to Chut Mut border gate.

By Nhu Y
(Source: Decision No.2865/QD-UBND dated November 18 2013 of the Provincial People’s Committee)