12.76% - not just a number

12.76% - a seemingly dry number in the end-of-quarter statistical bulletin, is quietly rewriting the way people look at a land. In the first quarter of 2025, Hoa Binh - a mountainous province without a seaport or a metropolis, once quietly on the sidelines of growth curves, suddenly rose to second place in the country in terms of GRDP. But the remarkable thing is not the position on the ranking, but the way Hoa Binh achieved it.

Entering 2025, R Vietnam Technical Research Co., Ltd., Da River Left Bank Industrial Park (Hoa Binh City) continues to affirm itself as one of the "links" maintaining a stable rhythm for Hoa Binh industrial production.

Not a sudden change. It is the result of a long-term accumulation process, where seemingly cold policies have permeated every field, every vehicle going in and out of industrial zones… And that is why 12.76% is not just a number, but an affirmation from the mountains that: where there is long enough preparation, there can be a breakthrough.

Growth - call from the smallest things

Not many people know that, during the Lunar New Year of At Ty, the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant Expansion - a national key project - is still under construction without a break. Underground, drills are moving meter by meter; on the construction site, engineers and workers of Construction Company 47 are working in shifts 24/7 to meet the installation schedule of the generator in 2025. This is not a single cut. It is the spirit of operation that does not slow down, even though spring is spreading peach blossoms all over the hills.

So, if you sit down at a small restaurant near the gate of the Industrial Park on the left bank of the Da River (Hoa Binh City), it is not difficult to "meet" the story of a female restaurant owner who has not had time to take a break for Tet, because "on the 4th day, trucks arrived, and workers went to work very early". There are numbers that originate from decisions in the meeting room, growing from the dust on the road, the sound of machines and even from the earliest restaurants that light up in an industrial area...

From the quiet movements at the beginning of the year, Hoa Binh's economic indicators also began to speak up. The total value of the industrial and construction sector increased by 27.18% over the same period, of which electricity production and distribution alone increased by nearly 89%. A number that does not need long explanation. When the electricity runs at full capacity, it means the factory lights up for 3 shifts, the assembly line does not stop. Inside each number is the sound of machines operating regularly, the flow of capital does not stop, the vehicles coming and going to the construction site...

The growth also spread to trade, services, and agriculture. Accommodation and food services increased by 23.4%, and total retail sales of goods increased by 24.7%. The agricultural sector increased by 4.5%, but what is remarkable is that the quality of growth has been "compressed" by real changes: export shipments are produced in chains, meeting VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards - concepts that were quite new to Hoa Binh farmers a few years ago.

"In the first quarter alone, the province's public investment capital increased by 121.6%, the total social investment capital reached more than 6,645 billion VND - an increase of nearly 39%, of which 40 new investment projects were licensed" - said Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Fortunately, many projects started construction early and disbursed faster than the national average, showing the initiative of the whole system in removing obstacles and accompanying investors. Major projects such as the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau expressway, the Hoa Binh - Hanoi regional connecting road... are no longer on the drawing board, but are entering the peak construction phase, with rapid coordination between the government and the people.

Even in remote communes, the pace of change is clear. For example, in Kim Lap commune (Kim Boi), more than 25 km of hamlet roads have been concreted with socialized resources. In gateway areas like Luong Son, OCOP products are not only on supermarket shelves, but also "exported" with green passports. These movements are no longer discrete but are converging into a flow. And Hoa Binh is not noisy, not ostentatious, but shines on the national growth map.

No coincidence - there are creative hands

While in many places, January is the month for opening festivals, Hoa Binh has sat down to calculate the way forward for the whole year. The province started the new year with an important move: issuing the Action Program to implement Conclusion No. 123-KL/TW of the Party Central Committee - a major guiding document, with the goal of national growth reaching 8% or more in 2025. However, what is worth mentioning is not that Hoa Binh issued it early, but that the province chose not to spread its determination with slogans, but to send it into specific numbers and time frames that must be completed. A true action program: who does what, what, when it will be completed, and what the results will be, all have clear milestones.

Hoa Binh does not hide its determination to go beyond expectations - growth of over 10% in 2025. And the 3 pillars identified are: public investment to pave the way; administrative reform to clear the flow; transforming the development model to create sustainable depth.

In 2024, Hoa Binh will achieve GRDP growth of 8.96%, ranking 11th in the country - a mark of economic restructuring associated with growth model innovation. Not choosing to slow down to "maintain growth", the province proactively promotes development model innovation, shifting from quantity to quality, from expansion to depth. Industry not only increases output, but also begins to focus on technology content, added value and greening the production chain. Agriculture no longer stands alone, but gradually enters the value chain linked to processing, trade and logistics. Tourism, instead of just leading visitors to beautiful places, is learning how to retain visitors with experiences, local culture and in-depth services.

Even in the seemingly driest area - finance - the new thinking has permeated. Instead of focusing on one-time revenue, the provincial budget has gradually shifted to sustainable revenue, nurturing long-term revenue sources from production and services. This is a quiet but strategic change, helping Hoa Binh stand firm in the face of uncertain fluctuations.

Along with the "hard infrastructure" are the silent but equally drastic movements of the "soft infrastructure": administrative reform. From the provincial to the communal level, the time for processing records continues to be shortened; the rate of handling online public services increases. In many localities, communal officials are now more familiar with typing than writing by hand, and can access interconnected databases to process inter-sectoral records. Establishing a business no longer takes several weeks as before, but takes less than 24 hours.

If Hoa Binh’s growth curve today makes many people look up, the first stroke was drawn with a simple yet serious material - the management discipline from the Tet holidays that has not yet faded. And when that growth curve turns up, people can see the fingerprints of the strategic planners - those who not only did the right thing, but also did it early and thoroughly.

"12.76% is not the destination" - that is the affirmation of comrade Nguyen Van Toan, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. But it is certainly a milestone. A beginning for a new journey. And if I had to choose a sentence to say about Hoa Binh today, it should probably be: no longer behind, but on the right track, with the attitude of someone who knows he will arrive.

Hai Yen

Source: http://www.baohoabinh.com.vn/12/199974/12,76-khong-chi-la-c111n-so.htm