Building Dong Ha into a green growth city

On August 8, 2024, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 813/QD-TTg on recognizing Dong Ha city as a type II urban area, under the jurisdiction of Quang Tri province. The aspiration of a young, dynamic city, a dynamic urban area in the Central region, the starting point to the East from the Pacific Ocean connecting with Laos-Thailand-Myanmar on the East-West Economic Corridor to the Indian Ocean is becoming a reality.

A green urban corner of Dong Ha city - Photo: NTH

On the development journey, in 2018, Dong Ha city was honored to be one of 37 cities worldwide to enter the final round of the Green City Competition for the period 2017-2018 organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature. At the same time, Dong Ha city is one of 23 cities selected by the Prime Minister to be included in the list of cities to pilot green growth urban development to gain experience and organize replication.

In the new vision, Dong Ha has the appearance of a green ecological city, a smart city, where resources are planned for sustainable use for the people. The project to adjust the general planning of Dong Ha city to 2045 has planned the strategy and urban space to build Dong Ha into an economic development center of the North Central region, a provincial capital, a political, cultural, service, commercial, financial, tourism, and industrial center of the province, becoming one of the driving cities on the East-West Economic Corridor. Currently, the city is focusing on coordinating with the departments, branches, and sectors of the province to organize reviews and adjustments to develop the city according to green and sustainable urban criteria.

Dong Ha City is one of 23 urban areas selected by the Prime Minister to be included in the list of urban areas to pilot green growth urban development to gain experience and organize replication. In the new vision, Dong Ha has the appearance of a green ecological urban area, a smart urban area, where resources are planned for sustainable use by the people.

To mobilize social investment capital and investment capital for urban infrastructure construction towards green growth urban areas, Dong Ha city has proactively built a list of programs and projects calling for investment, mobilized ODA capital, and national urban upgrading programs, such as: Urban development along the Mekong sub-region corridor (GMS); Livelihood Support Project for Urban Areas along the Mekong sub-region corridor (ADB); established and proposed a project to develop dynamic urban areas - Dong Ha sub-project; Central Coastal Urban Development Project towards green growth and climate change response (AFD); Dong Ha city drainage, collection and wastewater treatment project...

In the period 2013-2019, the city mobilized a total social investment capital of more than 16,000 billion VND, reaching about 19,756 billion VND in the 3 years 2021-2023. The average budget revenue in the area in the period 2021-2023 increased by 31.2%/year.

From the mobilized resources, Dong Ha city has directed the construction of about 20 new urban and residential area projects, in which priority is given to the implementation of a number of large-scale urban areas to create architectural and urban landscape highlights. The social infrastructure system has also been invested in to better serve the people's living needs.

Investment is focused on key social infrastructure projects, creating highlights in architectural space and urban landscape, such as: Provincial Cultural and Cinema Center; Dong Ha City Central Cultural House; Fidel Park; a system of parks and flower gardens; hospitals and medical facilities.

Projects to build wholesale markets, central markets, Ward 4 markets, Ward 3 night markets, clusters of food and beverage service points along Thach Han and Hieu rivers, and hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and commercial centers have been invested in, making the city's appearance more and more spacious, modern, and civilized. Up to now, the poverty rate in Dong Ha city has decreased to 1.47%; people's lives continue to improve and enhance.

The cable-stayed bridge over Hieu River creates an architectural highlight for the green urban area of ​​Dong Ha - Photo: NTH

With the goal of building Dong Ha city to basically meet the criteria of a type I urban area by 2045, becoming a green, smart, and sustainably developing urban area, the general urban planning of Dong Ha will be developed according to the model, urban space structure including an existing center with three routes and four breakthrough points.

The central route takes the urban landscape of Hieu River associated with trade - service - tourism; the northern route is a corridor of trade - service, healthcare, sports; the southern route is a corridor of environmentally friendly high-tech industry, warehouses. The breakthroughs of Dong Ha city include: Trade and service area, Northern dynamic center; Southern ecological urban area; Eastern trade and service urban area; Khe May and Trung Chi lake ecological area.

Currently, Dong Ha city is approaching and accelerating the implementation of the Central Coastal Urban Development Project towards green growth and climate change adaptation in Dong Ha city, using capital sponsored by the French Development Agency (AFD), with a total project investment of more than 1,152 billion VND.

The project has two components, including construction investment and technical support, capacity building. Green construction items implemented include: Construction of embankment and dredging of Hoi Song stream, about 4,690m long; construction of embankment on the west bank of Thach Han River and the north bank of Vinh Phuoc River, about 7,018m long; construction of embankment and dredging of the downstream drainage system of Trung Chi Lake, about 1,835m long on each side; construction of embankment and dredging of the downstream drainage system of Khe May Lake, about 1,710m long on each side; upgrading infrastructure of the South Hieu River; upgrading and renovating infrastructure of low-income areas, creating a sustainable living environment for urban residents.

The project also aims to upgrade infrastructure in low-income residential areas, invest in drainage systems, collect wastewater, and complete sub-area traffic systems to improve living conditions, environmental sanitation conditions, access to urban services, and rescue.

This is of great significance in enhancing the position, promoting the development and economic restructuring in sync with the development of civilized, modern and sustainable urban infrastructure, contributing to enhancing the spreading momentum to the urban system of the province and the urban system of the North Central and Central Coast regions.

Based on the approved Project on Adjusting the Master Plan of Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province to 2045, in the coming time, Dong Ha City will focus on mobilizing all resources, creating a breakthrough in investment in building synchronous technical infrastructure associated with building smart cities, continuing to complete and improve the quality of type II urban criteria. Dong Ha will have new growth when connecting with the Southeast Quang Tri Economic Zone, My Thuy deep-water seaport, Cua Viet port, Quang Tri airport, North-South expressway and Cam Lo-Lao Bao expressway, contributing significantly to connecting with urban areas in the region and the area to become a driving force for the province's development on the East-West Economic Corridor.

Thanh Hai

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/xay-dung-dong-ha-tro-thanh-do-thi-tang-truong-xanh-188940.htm