Apprasing Ha Long city’s general planning project to 2040

The Ministry of Construction on July 6 held a conference to appraise the general planning project of Ha Long city to 2040.

Under the proposed planning, Ha Long, which has an administrative boundary of 27,753 hectares, will be converted into a civilised and friendly sea tourism city with synchronous and modern socio-economic infrastructure systems. In the meanwhile, the World Natural Heritage Site Ha Long Bay will be fully preserved.

The planning scale covers a natural area of ​​about 112,132 hectares and a sea surface area of ​​about 40,251 hectares. The current population size in 2020 is about 467,400 people. It is forecasted that the number of population will be about 620,000 - 650,000 people in 2030, and about 800,000 - 830,000 people in 2040.

Members of the Appraisal Council highly appreciated and agreed with the content of the master plan project of Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province to 2040 and contributed some ideas to the locality and the consultancy unit to supplement the project.

On behalf of Quang Ninh province, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Tuong Van gratefully received such contributive comments and criticisms which would be good ideas for the completion of the planning project.

Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi highly appreciated Quang Ninh leaders’ the effective direction in urban development planning over the past time. The Appraisal Council basically agreed with the content of the project.

He suggested that the consultancy unit and the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province should fully consider the comments of the Council members, soon complete the document to send to the Ministry of Construction for consideration and submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

Located in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay, Ha Long city now tops the list of attractive destinations in Vietnam, according to statistics of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Together with newly -upgraded infrastructure projects, hotels and resorts, the hub is expected to be a haven for entertainment and relaxation in the North.

Ha Long bay spans 1,553 square kilometres and includes 1,969 islands of various sizes. It features thousands of limestone karsts and islets in various shapes and sizes. The limestone in the bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The geo-diversity of the environment has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species. 

Endowed with natural advantages for sea and island tourism, the province of Quang Ninh is working to promote its tourism brand abroad and become an international tourism hub by 2030.