A corner of Quang Ninh province (Photo: VNA)
Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vu Van Kinh said the city has provided incentives related to trade and tourism, and encourage businesses to invest in agriculture and take part in charity and social welfare activities.
The city is striving to turn the Mong Cai Border Gate Economic Zone into a dynamic economic region with sustainable development, he said.
Since the beginning of this year, 200 new enterprises have been established in Mong Cai with total registered capital of nearly 600 billion VND (25.9 million USD), raising the total number of active businesses to over 1,021.
From January-September, the total import-export turnover of goods through the city reached over 3.38 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 19.9 percent.
During the first nine months, the city welcomed more than 2.2 million visitors, jumping 9 percent from the same period last year.
Following the property boom in Ha Long city, Van Don district and Quang Yen town, Mong Cai city is emerging as a new magnet for real estate developers in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh.
The attractiveness of Mong Cai is attributable to its good economic development and transport infrastructure, especially thanks to the Mong Cai Border Gate Economic Zone.
The zone consists of the entire Mong Cai city along with nine communal-level localities of Hai Ha district. It has a total area of 121,197ha, including 66,197ha of land and 55,000ha of sea surface.
According to a report sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment last May by the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee, the zone has recorded strong socio-economic improvements over the past years.
Local transport infrastructure has been developed synchronously. Construction of Van Don – Mong Cai Expressway kicked off on April 3 this year, and it will directly connect with the expressway traversing Hanoi, Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh’s Ha Long and Van Don.
Meanwhile, the temporary road linking Mong Cai with Dongxing town of China has also been completed.
The contribution of the zone to the province’s economy is considerable as the trade revenue via the Mong Cai Border Gate approximated 16.59 billion USD between 2016 and 2018.
The Mong Cai Border Gate Economic Zone is also a concentration of labourers. Last year, there were nearly 76,000 labourers in the zone, compared to about 2,300 in the Bac Phong Sinh Border Gate EZ and 4,500 in the Hoanh Mo - Dong Van Border Gate EZ, also in Quang Ninh province. It is hoped to raise this number to 78,800 by the end of 2019 and 102,000 by 2025.
With these results, the Mong Cai Border Gate Economic Zone is not only the busiest one in Quang Ninh but has also helped the province rank first in terms of economic activities among the seven Vietnamese localities bordering China.
Aside from vibrant economic activities and good transport infrastructure, the EZ also boasts a lot of tourism potential. From 2010 to 2015, tourism revenue of Mong Cai city grew 3.7 percent annually to almost 2.88 trillion VND (124.3 million USD). The city also posted a surge in the number of tourist arrivals to 2.7 million last year. This is a driving force for the investment flow into resort property in the city./.