Lam Dong: Potential and development opportunities

Lam Dong province currently has the largest natural area in the country, with three ecological regions, including plateau, midland and coastal areas; converging all the elements of sea, forest, border gates, ports...

Lam Dong province currently has the largest natural area in the country, with three ecological regions, including plateau, midland and coastal areas; converging all the elements of sea, forest, border gates, seaports... opening up vast space and potential for development.

This is a "golden" condition to form a new growth pole, contributing to leading the green economic trend and sustainable development for the Central Highlands region and the whole country.

Although there are still many challenges and difficulties ahead, with new development space and position, Lam Dong has enough favorable conditions to focus on effectively exploiting potentials and strengths and creating momentum in the coming period.

Identify potential and strengths

Lam Dong province has a natural area of over 24 thousand km2, the largest in the country; with 103 communes, 20 wards and Phu Quy special zone; population of over 3.87 million people, ethnic minorities over 18.6%. Lam Dong borders Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa provinces, Ho Chi Minh City, the Kingdom of Cambodia and the East Sea.

Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Lam Dong Province Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam affirmed: "The merger of the three provinces of Lam Dong, Binh Thuan, and Dak Nong into the new Lam Dong province is a historic opportunity to maximize the potential and advantages of each region, creating a new, larger and stronger development space."

The most recognizable pillar of Lam Dong's socio-economic development is tourism, with diverse ranges of forests and seas, beautiful natural landscapes, and cultural colors of ethnic groups...

In the highlands, the Da Lat tourism brand has long been positioned on the domestic and international tourism map. The west of Lam Dong is the land associated with the Mnong plateau, home to the Dak Nong UNESCO Global Geopark, along with the majestic waterfalls of Dray Sap and Lieng Nung; Nam Nung Nature Reserve, Ta Dung National Park, and many intangible cultural heritages... that can be exploited to develop discovery tourism, ecotourism, geological tourism and community tourism. The coastal area is home to beautiful beaches, high-class resorts, rich island ecosystems, and Mui Ne National Tourist Area. Lam Dong also possesses heritages such as the Central Highlands gong cultural space, Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks, LangBiang World Biosphere Reserve... creating unique and special tourism products.

Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Ho Van Muoi emphasized that from identifying potentials and advantages, it is necessary to find the right path to build and develop the tourism brand of Lam Dong of thousands of flowers, Lam Dong of blue sea, Lam Dong of great forests, creating unique tourism products to attract tourists.

Along with that, Lam Dong is the leading locality in the country in high-tech agricultural production, with more than 107.2 thousand hectares; aquaculture area is about 6,150 hectares. The province has many famous agricultural product brands, which have been registered for intellectual property rights, such as vegetables, flowers, tea, coffee, silk, cold-water fish, dragon fruit, etc., making the locality a highly efficient commodity agricultural economic zone; high-tech ecological, organic agriculture, large-scale smart and circular agriculture.

Professor, Dr. Mai Trong Nhuan, former Director of Hanoi National University, said: “If we can promote the advantages of natural conditions, natural resources, culture, history, etc., Lam Dong will affirm its position in agriculture and tourism, becoming a “supermarket” of green and clean agricultural products for the whole country and a beautiful destination, a “charging station” for health for tourists.”

Many experts believe that Lam Dong has the opportunity to become the bauxite-alumina-alumina industrial center of Vietnam and the world. In the coming time, the province will continue to manage mineral reserves well and optimize the value chain from bauxite mining, alumina processing to aluminum smelting.

At the same time, with more than 1.1 million hectares of forested land, the forest coverage rate reaches 46.72% of the total natural area of the province, according to Dr. Pham S, an agricultural expert, Lam Dong's forest development potential is still large, not only as an economic activity, but also an effective measure to protect the environment and regenerate forest resources, contributing to the province's better participation in the carbon credit market.

Lam Dong province has a natural area of over 24 thousand km2, the largest in the country; with 103 communes, 20 wards and Phu Quy special zone; population of over 3.87 million people, ethnic minorities over 18.6%. Lam Dong borders Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa provinces, Ho Chi Minh City, the Kingdom of Cambodia and the East Sea.

A new potential of Lam Dong is the marine economy with a long coastline, large sea area and fishing grounds. In 2024, the province's seafood output will reach 239 thousand tons, with seafood export turnover reaching 226 million USD.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lam Dong province, Nguyen Van Chien, said that the locality is orienting towards sustainable development of the marine economy combined with ecological conservation, including renewable energy (wind power, wave power), green hydrogen production, high-tech coastal industry and island tourism. The goal is that by 2030, 80% of Lam Dong province's sea area will be protected for biodiversity, while upgrading seaports, logistics systems and planting coastal forests to respond to climate change.

New development space

The overall picture of Lam Dong's socio-economic development is currently quite clear, in the highlands it is the center of high-tech agriculture; industrial crops, valuable fruit trees, mining industry... In the southeast it plays the role of a connecting hub to the sea, with advantages in renewable energy and logistics.

The connection between the highlands, midlands and coastal areas helps to form an inter-industry value chain, an interconnected urban chain, a unique eco-tourism, resort and cultural area, creating a space for interconnected, effective and sustainable development. This will be the foundation for developing a green economic model, a circular economy, a digital economy, and a knowledge economy.

Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association Tran Ngoc Chinh analyzed that Lam Dong province has many advantages, with Lien Khuong international airport , Phan Thiet airport; railway, north-south expressway; Dau Giay-Lien Khuong expressway is being formed; seaports and some inland waterways with inter-regional connectivity... If properly connected, it will bring Lam Dong a huge, rare advantage; at the same time, creating an economic corridor connecting the "golden forest" and the "silver sea".

Lam Dong Provincial Party Secretary Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam affirmed that this is a golden opportunity to form a new growth pole, with a large enough scale, strong enough motivation and wide enough influence, contributing to leading the green economic trend, sustainable development for the region and the whole country. Lam Dong is building a master plan for socio-economic development, effectively utilizing the natural and geographical advantages of three ecological regions, including plateaus, midlands, coastal areas and the province's typical cultural values to build a long-term socio-economic development strategy, first of all concretizing it in the Documents of the Lam Dong Provincial Party Congress, term 2025-2030.

To promote the potential and strengths of the land, the connecting traffic system is the "key" to open up new development space for Lam Dong and the whole region. Currently, Lam Dong province has all types of transportation, but the connection within the province is mainly through main national highways, such as National Highway 28, 28B, 55... most of which are narrow, degraded, winding roads; the connection from the plateau to the sea is still limited, lacking horizontal connections.

In mid-July 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh directed the handling of local proposals, with many contents related to traffic. Of which, two notable traffic projects include the study to supplement the planning of the horizontal expressway connecting the regions of Lam Dong province and the proposal to prioritize the construction of a dynamic route connecting the southern Central Highlands with the South Central and Southeast regions.

According to Dr. Le Trung Chon, Institute for Sustainable Development Studies, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, when Lam Dong's traffic is smoothly connected, it will optimize the logistics system, enhance the competitiveness of the province's supply chain, and attract many other industries to develop together, such as tourism, agriculture, processing industry, industry-energy, marine and forest economy, etc.

In the coming time, Lam Dong will identify developing green-smart tourism as a spearhead; applying high technology and green technology as the foundation in production, business and services; connecting traffic and inter-regional infrastructure as the driving force.

Lam Dong Provincial Party Secretary Y Thanh Ha Nie Kdam said: “The locality is entering a new development phase with many opportunities, but also many challenges. The province will promote the spirit of “innovation, creativity, solidarity, and unanimity”, considering this as the core value, the source of strength to overcome all barriers and break through, building Lam Dong into a livable land, a place where culture, identity, creativity and prosperity converge.

Article and photos: BAO HAI YEN

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/lam-dong-tiem-nang-va-co-hoi-phat-trien-383627.html