Many experts recommend expanding administrative boundaries and merging provinces and cities towards the sea to facilitate transportation and trade.
A place in Dak Lak - Photo: NGOC AN
On the basis of the Government Party Committee's agreement to submit to competent authorities a plan to reduce the number of provincial-level administrative units by about 50% after the rearrangement, the Prime Minister requested that in addition to the criteria on natural area and population size, it is necessary to consider criteria on history, tradition, culture, ethnicity, geographical conditions, level of socio-economic development, infrastructure, etc.
Northwest and Central Highlands can expand towards the sea
Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Bui Tat Thang - former director of the Institute of Development Strategy (Ministry of Planning and Investment) - said that reducing the number of provinces and cities by 50% compared to the present is reasonable, to expand development space for regions and localities.
The problem is how to consolidate and arrange to combine the resources of each locality, open up and connect infrastructure, traffic, logistics, and transportation to help facilitate trade, investment, and business activities.
According to Mr. Thang, Vietnam is a country with a long coastline, associated with the history of protecting and building the country. Up to now, Vietnam is also a country that is deeply integrated with the world, not only the import and export of goods becomes an important driving force for growth, but the tourism service industry and marine economy also play a very important role.
Therefore, the arrangement of provinces and cities based on expanding space towards the sea will help to take advantage of and optimize the strengths between regions and localities, promote trade and economic investment more strongly, although not all localities will have the sea when rearranging.
He gave an example that the Northern mountainous region has many difficulties in terms of terrain, with hills stretching and dividing localities. Therefore, if the provinces of the Northeast and the Red River Delta are connected and expanded towards the sea, along the provinces of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, etc., it will help improve trade with the Northwest region, when we are doing a series of railway and highway projects in this region.
Or the Central Highlands region can combine with the provinces of the South Central Coast region to reach the sea, helping to strengthen the East-West corridor connection, creating favorable conditions for the development of both regions.
"Expanding administrative boundaries towards the sea will create better and more favorable conditions to complete the transportation network without being divided by localities, helping to facilitate import and export activities and reduce logistics costs," said Mr. Thang.
Ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands - Photo: TAM AN
Merge to make the provinces have large enough economic scale
Meanwhile, Professor Vo Dai Luoc, former director of the World Economic Institute, said that we have 100 million people, an area of more than 331,690km2 , but there are 63 provinces and cities, a coastline of 3,260km, so it is unreasonable to have provinces with too small an area.
Compared to China, a single province like Sichuan has 80 million people, and Guangxi has 40 million people. While many provinces in Vietnam are too small, there is an urgent need not only to streamline the apparatus and reduce staff, but also to expand to free up resources.
Sharing the view of expanding space towards the sea, Mr. Vo Dai Luoc said that along with considering the criteria of population size and area, the important factor is to consider and evaluate the existing economic scale, associated with the geographical location of the localities.
Because of the characteristics of our country, which is long from North to South and quite narrow, the research is to make the provinces not only have forests but also face the sea. Expanding the space to the sea aims to optimize and exploit the potentials and advantages of infrastructure, transportation, logistics, creating greater trade when our country is integrating deeply.
Especially the Northern mountainous provinces and the Central Highlands, if expanding the opportunity to connect with localities in the coastal direction, will promote many advantages for the strong industries of these regions such as agriculture, seafood, mineral resources, wood and forestry products...
"We should refer to the previous province mergers, because there has been research, basis and implementation of mergers. Previously, merging and then separating provinces was for ease of management. However, now expanding provinces needs to rely on planning to optimize potentials and advantages" - Associate Professor, Dr. Vo Dai Luoc analyzed.
In addition, he said that after having a plan to submit to the levels, there needs to be a council of experts to appraise, evaluate and collect public opinions. The goal is that after the merger, the localities will have a large enough scale in terms of area and economic scale to increase connectivity.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sap-nhap-de-cac-tinh-tay-bac-va-tay-nguyen-huong-ra-bien-va-co-bien-20250317091814293.htm
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