Quang Nam puts its money on environmentally sound tourism

Quang Nam puts its money on environmentally sound tourism

Quang Nam Province, along Vietnam's central coast, has recently revised its development plan with a greater focus on promoting tourism. According to Vu Ngoc Hoang, secretary of the province's Party Committee, new investments being registered in the province will be adapted to fit its greener strategy.

¢ We hear that Quang Nam has refused to grant certificates to some projects with a combined registered capital of $5bil. Is that true?

Quang Nam Province has turned down a few projects registered in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone and Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Zone. Among them were projects proposing to build a steel plant and a thermal power plant in Chu Lai EZ, each with $1bil in registered capital.

Though Quang Nam encourages investment, our policy is to minimise projects that may potentially create environmental pollution and affect the natural landscape.

¢ But Quang Nam is still a poor province; can't investment in the province help to increase tax collection and create more jobs?

We are calling for domestic and foreign investment but it is a pity if we have to refuse projects with such large amounts of investment capital.

We must be careful to avoid negative impacts on the environment, like some other provinces have had by attracting massive projects without appraisals.

The decision to refuse large industrial projects investing in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone has raised some objections as they could contribute to the State budget and provide job for local residents. After discussions, however, we agreed that we would opt for long-term vision over short-term gains.

In the past too years, we have focused on developing tourism and services rather than industry.

¢ Quang Nam has set a target to become an industrially developed province. So why did the province need to revise its plan?

There were a few reasons to revise our province's economic development strategy. WTO membership has allowed Vietnam to fully integrate into the world economy. Presently, developed countries tend to shift their industrial sectors to developing countries, and we could become industrial waste dumps if we are not careful.

Environmental pollution is a very big issue. Some pollutants are visible, and some are not, making them even more dangerous. I think this revised development strategy was necessary so that our children's generations won't suffer from environmental consequences.

¢ What are the strategies for developing tourism to become the main force of the province's economy?

We plan to focus investments and efforts to make Quang Nam, along with Hoi An, a major, famous tourism centre in the region and the world. Now, we are giving priority to improving tourism, instead of the parallel development of industry and tourism, like before.

The 125-km coast will be used for high-class tourism facilities. We are scheduled to use one-fourth or one-fifth of the area to build five-star resorts near the beach, leaving the rest for trees and vegetation. The one- to three-star hotels will be also arranged to take full advantage of the area.

According to our estimation, the average income per guest at five-star hotels can be 20 times higher than at one-star hotels, while pollution caused by the latter is always 20 times higher than the former. However, the provincial authorities will still develop hotels of all kinds to satisfy local and foreign tourists' demands.