Ham Tan – a turning point for industrial locomotive

Regarding the Government's other considerations, I would also like to say that the Government agrees and requests Binh Thuan to do everything to put this project into production as soon as possible."

Like a cactus on the sand

Ham Tan at the end of 2005, after adjusting the administrative boundaries to establish La Gi town, has formed a land area with a natural area of ​​73,861 hectares, including sea, forest, mountains, hills and plains. But only lack of water, although there are many rivers flowing through the area such as Phan River, Ko Kieu River, Tram River, Chua River, Dinh River. This is absurd, because the flow of rivers in sandy areas is extremely abundant in the rainy season but quickly dries up at the beginning of the dry season. Later, Phan River Dam and Dinh River 3 reservoir were built, with canals to transfer water but only irrigated areas within the water source. In addition, with a large land area, over the past 20 years, the economic development and construction of the lives of Ham Tan people have been likened to a cactus on the sand, because of the flexibility to change and turn disadvantages into advantages.

Song Dinh Lake 3. Photo: N.Lan

Co Kieu Dam

Water channel of the Dinh 3 Lake irrigation project

Without water, many areas of land that seemed to be deserted were planted with hybrid acacia trees by the people and harvested every 3-4 years and then replanted. This way, not only did it improve each household's income, but this concentrated forest plantation also helped improve the climate in the area and improve the soil. Then, without anyone knowing, this forest plantation by the people became a typical crop of Ham Tan, so in the annual socio-economic development plan, the district chose to put this target first. For example, in 2024, according to the report of the Ham Tan District People's Committee, the plan was to plant 700 hectares of forest, but the people participated in planting up to 1,780 hectares, reaching 254.29% of the plan. At the same time, the output of wood harvested from the planted forest was 245,325 m3 and the forest area was cared for 4,450 hectares. In the first quarter of 2025, another 625 hectares of forest will be exploited, of which Ham Tan Forestry Enterprise will exploit 97 hectares, and the remaining 528 hectares will be exploited by people in the communes from planted forests with their own capital...

Acacia forest in Ham Tan

Planted forests in Ham Tan

Harvesting Acacia trees

Meanwhile, in other areas, where the land can be improved; small irrigation systems and intra-field canals can be developed; and ponds can be dug to store water, there are a variety of fruit trees, instead of cassava, cashew, and sugarcane as before. Over time, a number of specialized areas have been formed for fruit trees and industrial trees with high economic value such as longan, tangerine, dragon fruit, melon, seed production, high-tech agriculture , etc.

Dragon fruit production according to GlobalGAP standards

Avocado garden in Thang Hai, Ham Tan

Avocado garden in Thang Hai, Ham Tan

Dragon fruit garden in Song Phan, Ham Tan

Melon

Overcoming the above weaknesses in agriculture makes Ham Tan more attractive when it has a vast land area, rich and diverse natural resources. Not only does it have a 22 km long coastline, National Highway 1A, National Highway 55, the North-South railway and expressway passing through, making Ham Tan very convenient for transportation, but also because it is located adjacent to the key economic region of the country - the Southeast region, specifically the two provinces: Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Dong Nai. In the "whirlwind" of industrial development when the above key economic region is gradually becoming crowded, Ham Tan has become an ideal place for investment trends, when businesses come in to enjoy cheap land rental prices, low logistics costs... and especially have green certificates, because the products use renewable energy, convenient for export in the context of the world moving towards Net zero.

Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway

Tan Thang Beach, Ham Tan

National Highway 55 through Ham Tan district. Photo: N.Lan

Transformation from new fortune

The industrial development position of Ham Tan is not only now, when the external traffic routes are formed and highlighted, but Binh Thuan has recognized it early through the planning of industrial parks. The clearest evidence is that on May 6, 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Trade decided to approve the construction site of Son My Power Center located in Son My 1 Industrial Park, Ham Tan District. At that time, the capacity scale, technology and land area were planned according to two options: if using liquefied natural gas (LNG) or if using imported coal.

After all these years, up to now, 3 projects have been clear in terms of scale, capital, investor, completion time... Such as the Son My LNG Port Warehouse Project invested by Son My LNG Port Warehouse Company Limited, with a total capital of about 1.34 billion USD, expected to be put into operation in the first quarter of 2027.

Son My 1 Industrial Park

Tan Duc Industrial Park

In recent times, Ham Tan has 683 enterprises of various types, operating in many fields and 6,850 registered business households. State budget revenue in 2024 will reach 233 billion VND, nearly 13 times higher than in 2005. Notably, with Ham Tan's potential, "eagle" investors will soon come to "lay their nests".

Then the Son My II Thermal Power Plant Project with a total capacity of 2,250 MW was invested by the US AES Group in 2019 and approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for investment under the public-private partnership model in 2022, with a land use area of ​​about 93.5 hectares and a total investment capital of about 2.1 billion USD. The project is expected to come into operation in 2028.

The Son My I BOT Thermal Power Plant Project has a total capacity of 2,250 MW, invested by a consortium of four units from France, Japan and Vietnam in 2018 and approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for investment under the public-private partnership model in 2021, with a land use area of ​​88.3 hectares and a total investment capital of about 2.2 billion USD. The project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2028.

This means that in just over 3 years, the 3 "giant" projects of "eagle" investors will come into operation. Therefore, this time for the Ham Tan government is a busy time to focus on clearing the land for the projects to be implemented. At the same time, it is necessary to continue investing and completing traffic works and technical infrastructure to serve industrial development, for the socio-economy, especially focusing on the urban areas of Tan Nghia, Tan Minh, Son My. As for households, they also have their own plans for family economic development.

Now, the landscape of Ham Tan has changed a lot, the traffic is connected smoothly, shortening travel time and businesses have discovered the earliest about the distance of transporting goods from Ham Tan to Cai Mep Port (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) faster than in Dong Nai. That is one of the strengths for Tan Duc Industrial Park infrastructure investors to accelerate the completion of phase 1 in 2025, taking advantage of attracting secondary investors to lease land, when there are currently 4-5 investors registered.

Therefore, the story of the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh saying that with just a 4,000 MW LNG power plant, Binh Thuan will be rich immediately is a very realistic prospect and also proves that Ham Tan will soon be an industrial locomotive. Because in the district there are 2 other industrial parks, 5 more industrial clusters and of course when the big project comes into operation, it will create a spillover effect. Even each household will be affected, each member will have a job and each family here will have a diverse source of income, instead of 1 source from agriculture as before. Then the Ham Tan - La Gi Industrial - Service - Urban Area is about to start, which will open up many opportunities for businesses and people. All of this is to help the transition from agricultural to industrial areas, from farming households to other industries, less limping in the near future.

According to data from Ham Tan District Party Committee, in the past 5 years, the total development investment capital from the State budget invested by the district was 703 billion VND; the total development investment capital (registered capital) of non-budget projects until 2024 was 131,412 billion VND; the total investment capital for business and service development of individual business households was 2,770 billion VND.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/ham-tan-buoc-chuyen-cho-dau-tau-cong-nghiep-129670.html