• Building a "runway" to help urban areas in the Southwest region take off - Part 2: The transformation of rural urbanization
  • Proud of civilized urban ward
  • Creating changes in awareness and solutions for building new rural areas, civilized urban areas, and sustainable poverty reduction

Currently, the old Ca Mau province has 22 urban areas, with an urbanization rate of 30.47% in 2022 to 33.04% in 2024. This result is higher than the average urbanization rate in the Mekong Delta (about 32%), but lower than the national urbanization rate (over 44%).

Transformation of social infrastructure

Mr. Du Minh Hung, Director of the Department of Construction, said that most of the general planning projects and zoning plans are planned in the direction of green, smart urban development, sustainable development according to the general trend; functional areas, areas with strategic locations, high-value environmental landscapes are prioritized for planning to attract investment. Many detailed planning projects are of high quality, serving as the basis for investment in public and civil architectural works, infrastructure systems, cultural, sports , and tourism works, etc.

The most obvious thing in urban development is the strong investment in social infrastructure in many areas. Public service works and housing increasingly meet the needs of the people, improving the quality and living conditions; medical , educational, cultural, sports works... are invested in, meeting the needs of health care, study, entertainment, recreation... of the people.

The urban area in the wards of An Xuyen, Tan Thanh, Ly Van Lam, Hoa Thanh is the center of the province, also the sub-regional center of the Ca Mau peninsula area.

Based on natural conditions, the central urban system of the province (currently belonging to the wards: An Xuyen, Tan Thanh, Ly Van Lam...) is oriented to develop diversely, suitable for the typical ecological region, adapting to climate change; playing the role of a coastal sub-regional center in the Ca Mau peninsula area, a national oil and gas energy and service center, an eco-tourism service center, and a seafood processing center of the region.

On the West bank, Song Doc urban area is the economic and social center of the coastal region, a typical urban area of the river region and a center for sea tourism services. Nam Can urban area is the center for mangrove eco-tourism services, the commercial and service center of the South, with a unique and modern river identity; especially when large projects are formed in the province, strongly oriented towards the East Sea, Nam Can urban area will be the development axis with Song Doc, Ganh Hao, Hon Khoai.

Identify obstacles

Rapid changes in urban development have been evident; however, in general, urban quality is still low. The traffic and drainage networks in urban areas are not synchronous, there is a lack of connection between existing works and newly built works; the overall urban technical infrastructure system and social infrastructure still have many limitations, developing more slowly than the speed of socio-economic development. The management of architectural space and urban landscape has initially received attention, but there are still some shortcomings and unreasonable issues such as: lack of green space; public service works have not been fully invested; architectural works and urban landscape space still develop spontaneously...

Investment resources are still too limited, not meeting development requirements. Specifically, the total demand for urban development investment capital is about 106,773 billion VND, of which the 2023-2025 period is about 33,801 billion VND, the 2026-2030 period is about 72,972 billion VND. However, in reality, the 2022-2024 period, the total urban development investment capital is arranged quite modestly, only over 7,740 billion VND, mobilized from different capital sources.

Promoting advantages, the development of coastal urban areas in Ca Mau is always associated with the strategy of ensuring national defense and border security. (Photo: Song Doc urban area).

Transforming growth model

From the practical lessons learned and identifying obstacles, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee requested that in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on consolidating and improving the quality of urban development in areas that play a role in driving growth, promoting the transformation of the growth model from breadth to depth in dynamic cities with synchronous infrastructure, leading the process of transforming the digital economy and developing value-added services with high competitiveness; transforming the green, smart and climate change-adaptive growth model, in accordance with the characteristics and competitive advantages of each city.

Promoting the advantages after the merger, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee believes that it is necessary to exploit and use coastal space effectively, adapt to climate change and ensure national defense and security in planning and expanding urban space. Integrating solutions to respond to climate change and resolutions of Party Committees at all levels, urban development programs and urban development investment projects is considered a sustainable development goal of the coastal urban system, ... It is expected that the urban picture of Ca Mau with open space will develop strongly, worthy of the position of the southernmost point of the country.

Tran Nguyen

Source: https://baocamau.vn/ca-mau-tren-hanh-trinh-do-thi-hoa-a120770.html