Activating Ho Chi Minh City's marine space

Thus, from the previous strategic orientation towards the sea with the Can Gio area, after merging and connecting with Ba Ria - Vung Tau (with Con Dao special zone), Ho Chi Minh City has become the locality with the most advantages in the country in developing the marine economy, including oil and gas exploitation - energy, tourism, and deep-water ports.

Embracing the entire Ganh Rai Bay area in the Southeast of Can Gio creates a continuous space from Saigon River Port to Cat Lai on the Soai Rap River and Can Gio International Transit Port, forming a "vision" of the marine economic ecosystem, including energy, maritime, logistics, industry, fisheries, tourism, trade, and services.

Making the most of the sea space to activate the connection between mountains, forests, plains and islands of Ho Chi Minh City can be understood as creating a seamless position for an international gateway of the megacity, the economic center of the Asian region. There, the marine economy, viewed from the Can Gio - Ba Ria - Vung Tau - Con Dao strip, is not only a goal of economic "privileges" and integration, but also a "front line" to protect the sovereignty of the sea, islands and national continental shelf.

An interesting connection: If Can Gio is a bright spot in the model of preserving natural values, the way the indigenous people "coexist" with protective forests, protecting forests over the years (typically, to develop Can Gio protective forests, the expenditure of Ho Chi Minh City is 1,156,000 VND/ha/year, much higher than the support level according to the state budget of 400,000 VND/ha/year of the Government), then Con Dao is a "laboratory" for infrastructure development - transportation - economy and heritage conservation.

The most recent initiatives, through the orientation of the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang and Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc with the Con Dao special zone, have also placed in the vision of "sea space and activating connectivity", sea with mainland, natural resources with cultural heritage, development and conservation... In particular, the issue of conflict between development and conservation interests, preserving the integrity of Can Gio mangrove forest, Con Dao marine ecological reserve and Vung Tau coastal system, along with exploitation, service, trade and tourism activities to ensure "green, clean", has also been raised with specific, harmonious solutions, associated with personal responsibility.

Overlapping planning and management policies, lack of synchronization in transport infrastructure development, failure to create momentum for marine economic development, logistics not meeting the needs of export enterprises... are issues that will soon have to be fundamentally and effectively resolved. At the same time, the draft documents of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress, term 2025-2030, updated with the city's overall socio-economic planning after the merger as well as the additions and adjustments to Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, will be submitted to the National Assembly at the session at the end of this year.

Looking more broadly, a marine space of Ho Chi Minh City has been and is being activated with synchronous connections from Con Dao airport, railway connecting Can Gio, sea and coastal routes from Can Gio to Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Cai Mep Ha free trade zone..., contributing to promoting Ho Chi Minh City to develop more strongly in the new period.

NGUYEN QUAN CAT

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/kich-hoat-khong-gian-bien-tphcm-post813325.html