Dong Ha positioned itself as a green city

Dong Ha City is putting efforts into making its urban planning suitable with the development that puts green growth as the central issue along with the improvements of industries, trade, and services.

A new urban area in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province. Photo: D.T.

The goal was set for the city following its economic development in recent years despite its history since the early 20th century and being a town of Quang Tri Province in 1989.

Steps by steps

Dong Ha, with its geographic position and role as the province’s capital city for decades through ups and downs, is a socio-economic hub of Quang Tri and the Central region.

Shortly after it was chosen to be Quang Tri’s capital city in 1989, the city was designated to be a center of different fields tapping internal resources for development regardless of capital sources, manpower, technologies, equipment, and facilities. The city Party’s Resolution released for 1992-1996 targeted to gradually develop with intensified investment in transport, drainage systems, electricity grid, environmental protection, and urban decoration toward a modern, civilized, and clean city.

In an article titled “Considerations for bringing up planning concerns for Dong Ha Town” released in 1989, architecture Bui Hiet highlighted that the provincial capital city is a political, economic, and cultural center of a province and the planning for Dong Ha is to restructure its system to serve the province’s life, culture and economic development toward a sizable position of the province, not that the town itself.

Carrying such a role, Dong Ha becomes a subject to serve the overall and long-term mission to make it a suitable structure that is influential on the provincial scale. It means that the planning of Dong Ha does not serve itself but the entire Quang Tri.

In this regard, Dong Ha has been paying due attention to urban planning since 1989. With 7,255 ha of natural area, its urban land accounts for 60.5% while its population of 80,000 was divided into nine administrative units. After years, Dong Ha has new residential areas stationed thousands of houses with modern architecture, forming a new image for the town. Especially, a number of architectures carry historical, religious, and art values which are given significant investment for restoration and protection. They contribute to creating a town of a combination of traditional and modern architecture.

The urbanization associated with construction and urban planning has positioned Dong Ha as a center of political, economic, and socio-cultural roles while step by step becoming one of the centers in the central region and Southeast Asian cities.

Between 1991 and 1998, Dong Ha got VND244 billion (US$10 billion) for basic construction and urban planning. During 2001-2005, the investment for development was largely mobilized, helping the town to have transport systems, lighting systems, drainage ones, pavement, trees in urban areas, offices, wholesale markets, schools, hospitals, clinics, cultural institutions, among others. Dong Ha has become a center of industrial and handicraft, trade and service of the province and the region.

With those achievements, the Government issued Resolution 33/NQ-CP dated August 31, 2009, to establish Dong Ha City of Quang Tri Province. The move encourages local leadership and people to contribute more to the provincial growth, opening a new period of development.

Dong Ha planned to be “green – friendly – dynamic”

Dong Ha has developed to become a smart city with development directions to be in line with other localities nationwide. As a matter of fact, the Quang Tri People’s Committee on June 15, 2023, issued Decision 1234/QDUBND on approving the adjustment of Dong Ha’s master planning until 2045.

This seems like a key to switching the city’s potential, enabling it to promote its combined strengths of land attached to history and tap resources for a “marathon” to the future.

According to the planning, Dong Ha will focus on sustainable development with the foundation of green growth and climate change response. To make its “green – friendly – dynamic” development strategy possible, the city will cover Hieu River-centered urban planning, with green space connecting “green routes” to Thach Han River, Vinh Phuoc, pond systems coupled with urban green space which connects the existing parts with the new ones.

The urban area of Dong Ha will grow in four directions in the future. The North will develop trade, services, tourism, new urban areas, and urban agriculture while establishing connections with the tourism service corridor, Quan Ngang Industrial Park, and Quang Tri Airport, and making use of the topography on both sides of the Hieu River.

The South focuses on creating high-tech, clean industries, warehousing systems, education and health facilities, and new urban areas connected to Vinh Phuoc River ecotourism.

The East’s development priorities include creating new urban areas, fostering urban agriculture, and combining the Thach Han River landscape area with experiential ecotourism.

The West concentrates on creating eco-tourism zones connected to forest parks in the Khe May Lake and Trung Chi Lake regions, restoring and beautifying existing areas, and growing industry and logistics along the North-South railway.

Dong Ha’s architectural impression is Hieu River. The river not only gives Dong Ha its stunning scenery, but it is also interconnected and all-pervasive. In an attempt to transform the Hieu River into a representation of the Dong Ha urban area, numerous imposing and contemporary bridges have been built across it, resulting in some truly remarkable architectural structures, such as the Salinity Prevention Dam Bridge, the Bup Sen Bridge, the Dong Ha Bridge, and Song Hieu Bridge.

It can be said that the master planning of Dong Ha has brought a new image for the city in terms of infrastructure and efforts to make full use of its strengths for development over the past three decades.

The master planning of Dong Ha by 2045 will also make the resources fully tapped, paving the way for the city’s socio-economic development, attracting investment, and being in line with the development of the central economic zone, the East-West Economic Corridor, and the central region as a whole.

It’s the foundation for Dong Ha to soon become Urban – Tier II and gradually be a smart and environmentally friendly city.

Dao Thanh Tam – Linh Pham