Lesson 1: Opening the sea for ships to sail
Lesson 2: Land reclamation, city building
Lesson 3: Building Phu Quoc to be worthy of the title of pearl island
THE ISLAND CHANGES
10 years ago, Lai Son island commune, Kien Hai district (Kien Giang) still did not attract tourists even though the commune had many beautiful beaches, clear blue sea water, attractive mountain climbing spots, historical and cultural relics with characteristics of the sea and islands. One of the reasons recognized and explained was that at that time Lai Son did not have a national electricity grid, roads, wharves, etc. In addition, the commune did not have many passenger trains connecting the mainland with the island. And when these difficulties were removed and resolved, Lai Son had more conditions to break through in tourism development.
In the period of 2018-2022, on average, Lai Son island commune welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year for sightseeing and tourism, a 10-fold increase compared to before 2018. Many visitors to Lai Son today are amazed at the changes of the island commune. The roads around the island are concreted and expanded, allowing visitors to enjoy the sea view. Many tourist attractions on the island have been invested in and operated effectively, such as Bai Bang, Cay Dua Nam, Bai Da, Lang Chai... From a few scattered rooms, the commune now has 72 tourist accommodation establishments with more than 700 rooms and even a 3-star resort. Currently, there are 4 high-speed boat trips every day to transport visitors from the mainland to and from the island.
Comrade Giang Van Tai - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Lai Son commune said that the commune has received attention from the Central, the province, and the district in investing in infrastructure construction, especially the transportation system on the island, which has brought a new look to the commune. "The national grid was extended to the island in 2016 and the province announced the decision to recognize Lai Son as a local tourist area at the end of 2017. Since then, it has promoted the development of sea and island tourism in Lai Son, attracting many tourists. The lives of the people here have also changed rapidly, the level of economic and spiritual enjoyment is higher than before", Comrade Giang Van Tai emphasized.
On January 12, 2023, the joy of preparing to welcome the new year of Quy Mao 2023 was doubled for the Party Committee, government and people of Hon Nghe island commune, Kien Luong district ( Kien Giang ) when the commune was the first island commune recognized by the People's Committee of Kien Giang province as meeting advanced new rural standards. In the process of building an advanced new rural commune, Hon Nghe island commune received nearly 20 billion VND in investment capital from the province, district and contributions from the people. Hon Nghe people have national grid electricity and clean water to use.
In addition to the potential for tourism development, Hon Nghe island is also suitable for developing fish cage farming. Hon Nghe is also known as the "kingdom of fish cages" of Kien Giang. Currently, the whole commune has more than 1,300 cages, nearly 200 households raising, mainly cobia, grouper, and pearl fish. The average income per capita in Hon Nghe in 2022 is more than 64 million VND/person.
Tourists at Lai Son island commune, Kien Hai district (Kien Giang). Photo: DUC BINH
Returning to the Pirate Islands, Tien Hai Commune, Ha Tien City (Kien Giang) this time, we witnessed a clear change in this island, the motel business here is more vibrant. Pointing to the electric pole stretching from Mui Nai, Ha Tien City, towering in the middle of the sea running to Hon Doc Island - the largest island of the Pirate Islands, a motel owner in Tien Hai Commune said: "More than 3 years ago, there was no national grid electricity, tourists came and went in the same day, very few people stayed overnight. Since the island has national grid electricity, motels have been invested in, upgraded and expanded, and more and more tourists are staying on the island."
According to the assessment of the People's Committee of Kien Giang province, up to now, the average income per capita in coastal areas and island communes in the province is 1.25 times higher than the average income of the whole province. Life is stable, the economy is increasingly prosperous, people are assured of production, contributing to building the sea and islands to become more and more beautiful. |
Not only investing in the national grid, in recent years, Tien Hai commune has received quite synchronous investment in infrastructure such as rural transportation, schools, medical stations, domestic water, etc. From there, Tien Hai has more conditions for economic development.
Comrade Duong Anh Phong - Secretary of the Tien Hai Commune Party Committee assessed that the types of services, tourism, and goods supply are increasingly diverse and abundant, meeting consumer needs and serving production. From 2020 to present, the total value of the commune's trade, service, and tourism industry reached 320.9 billion VND, an average increase of 12.71%/year; the commune attracted 104,283 tourists.
TURNING POTENTIAL INTO RESOURCES
Tien Hai island commune is located about 28km from the center of Ha Tien city (Kien Giang) by sea, has many beautiful landscapes, shallow beaches with potential for tourism development. To promote the development of the "smokeless industry", in 2021, the People's Committee of Ha Tien city approved the detailed planning project for the construction of Hon Doc residential area and eco-tourism and resort project in Hon Tre hamlet, Tien Hai commune.
This project has a total area of over 10.5 hectares, of which phase 1 exploits 7.79 hectares, phase 2 over 2.7 hectares. Tien Hai people have high expectations that when the project is implemented, it will bring great benefits to the commune from tourism, service business activities, accommodation, trade and even real estate.
In Hon Tre island commune, Kien Hai district, an island commune located only about 20km from Rach Gia city (Kien Giang), the potential for tourism development is not small due to its convenient transportation location. To develop Hon Tre island commune into the center of Kien Hai island district and a place to welcome groups of tourists from Rach Gia city to travel on weekends, Kien Hai district People's Committee has established a detailed construction plan and called for investment in the Doi Ha Ba tourist area. Kien Giang provincial People's Committee has also decided to make a detailed plan to build Bai Chen eco-tourism area (Hamlet 1, Hon Tre commune) with a scale of 42 hectares.
Along with that, the local government plans to expand the Hon Tre residential area with a scale of 37 hectares, including functional areas of housing, hotels, tourist resorts, public works, commercial and service areas... The project has been updated in the land use planning until 2030 and the land use plan for 2022 is being submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval according to regulations.
A corner of Hon Doc, the largest island in the Pirate archipelago, in Tien Hai commune (Ha Tien city), where the scenery is beautiful and peaceful . Photo: DUC BINH
In recent years, tourism in An Son island commune, Kien Hai district (Kien Giang) has developed remarkably. The island commune has Bai Cay Men - which is considered the most beautiful beach in Nam Du archipelago. In the story of tourism development here, many people hope that tourism in the commune will have more conditions to develop when the Bai Cay Men resort project invested by Kien Giang Construction Investment Consulting Group (CIC Group) is implemented and put into operation. This project is expected to be built on an area of 5.27 hectares, a complex of services and utilities including: Restaurants, hotels, Villas, bungalows, beach bars.
With two main pillars of seafood exploitation and tourism development, the economy of Kien Hai island district has grown quite steadily in recent years, with an average rate of 10-11%/year. The average income per capita in 2022 reached 62.5 million VND/year. In the same year 2022, the budget revenue reached over 21 billion VND, many times higher than previous years.
Comrade Nguyen Quoc Tuan - Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Kien Hai district said that one of the breakthroughs of the resolution of the 9th District Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term, Kien Hai strives to become a district with strong development in tourism and aquaculture by 2025; by 2030, Kien Hai will become one of the key districts for tourism development in the province, and at the same time be the top district in aquaculture output.
The highlight of the development of the marine economy in recent times is that Kien Giang province has proposed many solutions to mobilize investment resources for development and construction of economic and social infrastructure in coastal and island areas. Up to now, the whole province has attracted 805 projects with a total registered capital of 390,360 billion VND. Of which, coastal localities such as Rach Gia City, Phu Quoc City, Ha Tien City, Kien Luong, Chau Thanh, Kien Hai, An Bien, An Minh districts (Kien Giang) have 729 projects with a registered capital of 186,802.97 billion VND. |
To achieve this, Kien Hai has planned an aquaculture area and is calling for partners to invest in large-scale marine aquaculture. Along with that, the district plans to build Lai Son island commune into a high-quality cultural, ecological and resort tourism area. The district focuses on investing in building Nam Du archipelago (belonging to An Son and Nam Du communes) into a modern marine ecological and resort tourism area. When implemented, these projects will continue to develop the aquaculture sector and help raise the tourism sector of Kien Hai island district to a new level.
DUC BINH - TU MINH
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