Decision-making dilemma. Lesson 4

htb-2-.jpg.jpg — A view of Ham Thuan Lake.

Sketch for Da Mi going to the city

In July, the People's Committee of Ham Thuan Bac District approved the planning task for the Ham Thuan Lake Tourist Area in Da Mi Commune. The district's goal is to leverage the potential and advantages of Da Mi Commune for tourism development. This aims to gradually shape tourist areas and routes in accordance with the spirit of the Resolution of the 12th District Party Congress, term 2020-2025; and the District Party Committee's Plan 67-KH/HU dated March 22, 2022, implementing Resolution No. 06-NQ/TU dated October 24, 2021, of the Provincial Party Committee "on tourism development until 2025 and orientation until 2030". It also concretizes the overall tourism development plan of Binh Thuan Province with a vision to 2030.

Ham Thuan Tourist Area, located in Zone 4, is a tourist area in the northwest of the province. The plan is to develop an eco-tourism and resort area, offering outdoor activities, lake sightseeing, agricultural tourism, and the preservation of natural landscapes, combined with recreational and adventure tourism services. In addition, functional areas serving the local population will be developed according to the planning guidelines. In this previously undeveloped area, the zoning plan has drawn significant attention to the technical infrastructure system, as this is a key requirement of the zoning plan that will determine the transformation of Da Mi into a town.

The specific tasks that the planning must achieve include arranging the urban technical infrastructure system to the regional road network, encompassing aspects such as determining the building elevation for each block; defining the traffic network, cross-sections, road boundaries, and building boundaries; defining and specifying the general plan regarding the location and scale of parking lots and garages (elevated, ground-level, and underground); public transport routes; trenches and technical tunnels (if any). In addition, it must also determine the water supply needs and sources; the location and scale of water treatment plants and pumping stations; the water supply pipeline network and specific technical parameters; the energy needs and supply sources (electricity, gas); the location and scale of power distribution substations and gas stations; the medium-voltage power line network and lighting system; and the need for and passive telecommunications infrastructure… All of this will outline the level at which Da Mi will be transformed into a city.

Notably, the total planned area is only about 483.08 hectares, bordered on three sides by forest land, agricultural land, and existing paved roads, while the eastern side borders Ham Thuan Lake. According to regulations, Ham Thuan Lake is designated as energy land, meaning no structures, however small or temporary, can be built to serve tourists. Therefore, it can be inferred that in this zoning plan, the proximity to Ham Thuan Lake, if approved for implementation, means that investors are only allowed to build tourism facilities on the land itself, and are not permitted to access the water's edge. This also means that tourists can only stand on the shore and admire the lake's scenery, but cannot go to the water's edge. With a shared sense of land, even the sandbars in the middle of the lake, managed by Ham Thuan Bac district, and the lake's surface managed by Da Nhim - Ham Thuan - Da Mi Hydropower Joint Stock Company, make the construction of docks and landing areas for tourists to visit fruit orchards on the sandbars in Ham Thuan Lake, which currently have spontaneous tours, not a simple task. Therefore, the need for lake surface areas to develop rural tourism in Ham Thuan Bac is more urgent than ever at this time.

The road leading to the Da Mi fruit orchard.

Situation that needs to be resolved

The fact that Da Nhim - Ham Thuan - Da Mi Hydropower Joint Stock Company signed a water surface lease contract and the Binh Thuan Department of Natural Resources and Environment signed a land lease contract and issued a land use right certificate to the company in accordance with regulations for energy land in 2009, and now wants to return a portion of the area, is a new situation that requires thorough discussion and resolution to be carried out as soon as possible. This is because it is a mutually beneficial approach. The company is also acting in accordance with the production and business policies of the Vietnam Electricity Group, and the locality also gains more opportunities for socio-economic development through rural tourism development.

Working with relevant provincial authorities has revealed several issues. Specifically, reducing the lake surface area would necessitate adjustments to the investment plan and a reduction in project scale. Furthermore, according to new regulations specifying the maximum capacity per megawatt of hydropower, the area of the Ham Thuan and Da Mi reservoirs must be recalculated. Any excess area would have to be returned to the local authorities. Therefore, to adjust the planning for tourism development, the Ham Thuan Bac District People's Committee must first propose to the competent authorities that the adjusted lake surface area be removed from the energy land use plan and reclassified as commercial and service land, and this be updated in relevant land use plans and other related plans. Only then will the investor have a basis to apply for investment approval and permits for operations.

According to Decision 2190/2022 on the publication of the list of administrative procedures and internal processes for resolving newly issued administrative procedures in the field of dam and hydroelectric reservoir safety under the management scope of the Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Thuan province, issued by the Provincial People's Committee on October 18, 2022, there is content regarding licensing for activities related to water-based tourism. Specifically, in the list of provincial-level administrative procedures, under the section on dam and hydroelectric reservoir safety, there are 8 administrative procedures. Among them, the issuance of permits for activities within the protected area of dams and hydroelectric reservoirs in the province falls under the licensing authority of the Provincial People's Committee (except for dams and hydroelectric reservoirs specified in point a, clause 3, Article 22 of Decree No. 114/2018/ND-CP). Activities related to tourism are also clearly regulated here. Specifically, for licensing activities such as tourism, sports, scientific research, business, services; aquaculture; blasting and other activities: 15 working days. For licensing activities such as inland waterway vessels, motorized vehicles (excluding motorcycles and mopeds), and rudimentary inland waterway vessels: 7 working days… The application and results are received at the Provincial Public Administration Center, and the processing agency is the Department of Industry and Trade, Provincial People's Committee.

According to regulations, after the local authorities update the lake's surface area in the planning documents, investors wishing to invest in the area will be considered for selection. Depending on the nature of the project and its location, auction or bidding procedures will be applied.

Lesson 1: The Highlands Call

Lesson 2: The Dilemma of Da Mi

Lesson 3: The side that does nothing, the side that longs for it.

Lesson 5: It would make a difference if…

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