At the meeting with the leaders of Quang Ninh province in Sept. 2018, the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized the task of building Ha Long towards a green, clean and civilized city like Singapore. This is a very important development orientation for the tourist city along the coast of the World Natural Heritage Site.
In recent years, Ha Long City has seen remarkable changes in urban look, with great investment in tourism and transport infrastructure projects. Most people to Ha Long City are deeply impressed with the strong development of the city with modern and luxury hotels, recreation areas, international cruise ports, green trees along the streets etc, in accordance with the criteria for a tourist city.
Ha Long is striving to build a modern and civilized city, however to make the city clean like Singapore, lots of works must be done, such as urban green covering, wastewater treatment building, removing industrial and small scale industrial clusters causing environmental pollution, air quality etc.
According to experts’ analysis and assessment, to be a green city, Ha Long City must maintain the current status of the existing natural forest coverage and drastically perform environmental rehabilitation and restoration at coal fields and disposal sites, with the aim of achieving the forest coverage of over 25%, etc.
Regarding the criteria of the civilized city, it doesn’t cost money however, it is important to raise awareness and consciousness of the locals and tourists.
Singapore is a typical example for a green, clean, civilized and prosperous island nation. These results have achieved thanks to many factors regarding locals’ awareness and appropriate solutions to boost the economy. Is Ha Long city able to achieve that goal? It depends on efforts from the authorities, locals, tourists and investors who should take action for a green, clean and civilized Ha Long City.
Translated by Thu Giang
