The following events have been selected by the DA NANG Newspaper as the top ten in 2019.

1. Politburo’s Resolution No 43-NQ/TW regarding the city’s progress by 2030 with a vision toward 2045

Under Politburo’s Resolution No 43-NQ/TW, Da Nang will be developed into a modern-smart, ecological and global city, as well as a center for entrepreneurship and innovation, in Asia.

On 24 January 2019, on behalf of the Politburo, Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong issued the Resolution No 43-NQ/TW regarding the city’s progress by 2030 with a vision toward 2045, with a target of developing Da Nang into a modern-smart, ecological and global city, and turning the city into a center for entrepreneurship and innovation, in Asia.

Under the resolution, the city focused on developing on 5 strategic breakthroughs, namely tourism, high-quality services associated with vacation properties; seaports and aviation associated with logistics services; hi-tech industry in combination with the construction of innovative start-up urban area; IT, electronics and telecommunications associated with digital economy; and hi-tech agricultural products and fisheries.

2. Investment attraction records impressive growth

The Da Nang Hi-tech Park-based ICT Vina medical equipment factory

In active response to the city’s ‘2019: The Year of Promoting Investment Attraction’ landmark campaign, the city’s domestic and foreign investment attraction recorded the impressive growth.

By late 2019, the municipal government had granted investment permits to 7 domestically-invested projects with a total registered capital of over 8,638 billion VND, up 36.25% against 2018.

There had been some large-scale projects worth over 1,000 billion VND each. Notable amongst them were the 1,823 billion VND technical infrastructure development project at the FBS company-developed Thuy Tu urban area in Hoa Hiep Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District, and a 4,942 billion VND resort and luxury villa complex invested by the Quang An Da Nang Tourism Urban Development JSC.

Meanwhile, the city attracted a total of 689.3 million US$ from FDI projects. In particular, there were 130 newly-registered projects totalling over 438.6 million US$, up 7.4 times in the total capital compared with the same period previous year.

Also, the existing 16 FDI projects raised their capital with a total additional sum of 117.3 million US$, up nearly 63 times in the amount of additional capital versus the year-ago period.

As of late November 2019, a total investment of over 3.47 billion US$ from 812 FDI projects had poured into the city.

3. Revenue of tourism and software industries increases by 16.7% and 19.2% respectively

Visitors at the Marble Mountains Tourist Area

In 2019, the city welcomed an estimated 8.7 million tourists, an increase of 13.4% against 2018. Of this, about 3.5 million were foreigners, up 22.5%, whilst the remaining 5.2 million were domestic visitors, up 8%. The tourism industry earned 30,973 billion VND in revenue, a rise of 16.7% compared to the previous year.

It is noticeable that the tourist arrivals from China went up by 26%, South Korea by 16%, Japan by 51%, Malaysia by 52%, Thailand by 212%, and Taiwan by 126%.

Meanwhile, the total revenue of the information and communication technology (ICT) generated 30,050 billion VND by late 2019, surpassing by 4% of the year’s target, and up by 19.2% compared to 2018.

Noticeable, software exports hit 89 million US$, exceeding by 11% of the year’s target, up 14% against 2018. It is worth praising that some software enterprises operating in the city have joined the city’s ‘trillion VND’ club like Viettel Da Nang and FPT Software Da Nang. Meanwhile, many others have also recorded impressive growth, including Asian Tech Co., Ltd., and Rikkeisoft Co., Ltd.

4. Hiring Singaporean consultants to adjust a master urban plan for the city’s progress by 2030, with a vision towards 2045

The Da Nang Administrative Centre

In March 2019, the municipal authorities selected Singaporean-based consultancy firms namely Sakae Corporate Advisory and Surbana Jurong to make adjustments to the master urban plan for the city’s progress by 2030, with a vision towards 2045.

Accordingly, the Sakae Corporate Advisory company which offers corporate advisory and strategic investor relations services is set to assist Da Nang in developing its economic development strategy toward 2030.

Meanwhile, the urban and infrastructure development consultancy Surbana Jurong is responsible for the city’s master planning toward 2030 with a vision to 2045.

5. The 10-year implementation of a project on building Da Nang into an environmentally-friendly city reviewed, and project on constructing a smarter city launched

Work on a project on building a smart city started in April 2019

A total of 11,922 billion VND, including 987 billion VND from the State budget, was poured into the implementation of a project on building Da Nang into an environmentally-friendly city during the 2008-2018 period.

During that period, the city has scored 7 out of the 10 indicators about environment.

In detail, the city has seen the air pollution index (API) of less than 100, as well as the noise index of less than 60dB (A) in high-density residential areas and that of less than 75dB (A) on streets.

The index of the per capita green space has been between 6 m² and 8m².

As for water quality criterion, 97.83% of the total families in urban areas have accessed clean water, whilst 76,81% of the families in rural areas have accessed clean water.

100% of the industrial parks and high-tech park have had their own dedicated wastewater treatment systems, and their discharged wastewater has met the national standards.

The solid waste collection rates in urban and rural areas have reached 95% and 70% respectively.

The domestic wastewater collection and treatment rates have stood at 61% and 42% respectively.

In the coming time, the Department will join forces with relevant local agencies to implement the 'Building Da Nang into an environmentally-friendly City’ project during the 2020-2030 period, with a vision towards 2045.

In April 2019, the municipal government gave a nod to carry out a project on building a smart city.

The project aims to help the city government and State management agencies to enhance their operational efficiency, facilitate local citizens and businesses to access information in all aspects in a quick, open, and transparent manner, thereby partly improve the lives of local people, and creating a sustainable business environment.

Under the project, from now until 2020, focus is on developing smart infrastructure, platform and data. The cost for this stage is expected to stand at 939 billion VND, of which 550 billion VND come from public-private partnership (PPP) investment, whilst 46 billion VND is invested by businesses.

As for the 2021 - 2025 period, 1,191 billion VND will be spent on implementing smart applications, of which 700 billion VND is worth of PPP capital, 150 billion VND from ODA loans, and 36 billion VND from businesses.

The 2026 - 2030 period will highlight the smartisation of IT technologies on the basis of outstanding results achieved during the 2021 - 2025 period.

6. Upholding responsibility of investors for community benefits

On 19 July 2019, the city leaders, and representatives from relevant agencies, checking the construction of coastal footpaths on the eastern side of Ngu Hanh Son District

Following a recent instruction from the Da Nang authorities, the Ngu Hanh Son District authorities and relevant agencies have basically completed the construction of coastal footpaths allowing public access to beaches.

Included are a footpath at the end of coastal Ho Xuan Huong Street, one at a site between the Furama Resort Danang and the Ariyana Danang Tourism Complex, one on the northern side of the Song - Danang Beach Villas project in Ngu Hanh Son District’s Khue My Ward, and another one on the south side of the Hoang Dat Silver Shores Exceptional International Entertainment project.

Besides, the municipal authorities have given the green light to the construction of a square combined with a parking area at the end of Nguyen Sinh Sac Street in Hoa Minh Ward, Lien Chieu District and a similar model at the end of Ha Khe Street in Xuan Ha Ward, Thanh Khe District.

7. Lien Chieu Port project gets national government approval

An area designated for building the Lien Chieu Port

On 12 November 2019, the national government approved to grant 300 billion VND from the backup source of the medium-term public investment plan of the State budget for the 2016 -2020 period to the construction of the Lien Chieu Port.

According to the pre-feasibility study, the Lien Chieu Port covers a total planned area of 220ha, comprising 5 main functional areas, with a total investment capital of 32,861 billion VND.

The construction of the project is expected to be broken down into 3 stages. The first stage is expected to be completed by 2020, with the second finished in 2030 and the third completed by 2050.

Once it is put into use, the Lien Chieu Port will become a major cargo port in the central region and the East-West Economic Corridor No 2, whilst the current Tien Sa Port, which now serves both cargo and cruise ships, will be converted the into a special-use port for cruise ships in the future years with an anticipated capacity of 250,000 tourists by 2030.

8. Assessment of municipal-level Department and District Competitiveness Index for the first time

Handling one-stop administrative procedures at the city's Administration Centre

On 9 October 2019, results of the city-level Department and District Competitiveness Index (DDCI) 2018 were announced by the municipal authorities.

This is the first time Da Nang has built a DCCI Index on the base of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) jointly developed by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

As a result, the municipal Department of Information and Communications came first in the category of departments, whilst the Cam Le District People’s Committee took lead in the district-level DDCI.

The DDCI rankings are based on 8 criteria, including market entry, transparency, land access, the proactivity of leadership and IT application.

The DCCI is expected to be a practical and effective solution for departments and district-level authorities to enhance the quality of their economic management, thereby speeding up administrative reform in a synchronous manner and creating a favourable business environment in the city.

9. Cardiovascular centre put into operation and some key projects approved

The surgery was performed at the cardiovascular centre of the Da Nang General Hospital

In early 2019, the cardiovascular centre of the Da Nang General Hospital was put into operation at 138-140 Hai Phong Street. The 236 billion VND (11.23 million US$) medical project was approved by the municipal People’s Committee in 2015.

The construction and operation of the 200-bed Centre, which provide cardiovascular examinations, treatment and surgeries for patients with heart diseases from Da Nang and neighbouring localities.

In May 2019, the municipal authorities gave a nod to pour 495.6 billion from the city budget into the building of the 2,629m² Organ and Stem Cell Transplantation Centre at the Da Nang General Hospital.

In 2020, numerous key healthcare projects will be deployed in the city. Included are the Centre for Neurological Surgery, Traumatology and Orthopaedics at the Da Nang General Hospital, the 2nd stage of the cardiovascular centre of the Da Nang General Hospital, and the Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital expansion project.

10. Controlling drug crime, black credit and foreign violators

Police officers detected and dealt with many drug-related cases

In 2019, the Da Nang Police detected and dealt with 243 drug-related cases involving 350 offenders, an increase of 43 and 66 in the number of cases and arrests respectively against 2018. Also, 16,408 grams of narcotics and other related items were seized. 

In addition 9 black credit-related cases involving 43 offenders were detected and handled.

Also, the local police officers discovered 556 cases of foreigners violating the city’s regulations relating to illegal gambling, illegal entry, use of illegal drugs, and property robbery.

Translated by MAI DUNG