There are nearly 3 square kilometers of exclusive economic zone for every 1 square kilometer of land. There is 1 kilometer of coastline for every 100 square kilometers of land.
Vietnam has more than 114 rivers flowing into the sea from the mainland, and there is a large estuary for every 20 km of coastline. There are 3,000 large and small islands located in island clusters in Vietnam’s coastal waters and two offshore archipelagos – Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.
The coastal areas have a population of 50 million people, 51% of the national population. These features provide favorable conditions for the development of a strong and sustainable marine economy.
The "Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Marine Economy to 2030, with a Vision to 2045, has stressed the importance of marine economic development and set a goal of making Vietnam a strong maritime nation, becoming rich from the sea.
Professor Dr. Vu Minh Giang said that viewpoint and policy will continue be reflected in the current restructuring and streamlining of the apparatus and took for example the provinces that have similar characteristics in the Red River Delta region.
“If the large provinces without a coastline are merged with another province, the socio-economic coordination of the new province will naturally become smoother thanks to having abundant available land and potential for development. The provincial government can coordinate land resources and promote cultural traditions,” said Giang.
Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, and Ninh Thuan are three coastal provinces which have focused on developing a marine economy.
But Nguyen Tan Tuan, Chairman of the Khanh Hoa People's Committee. said these three provinces haven’t fully exploited their advantages to achieve breakthroughs and haven’t yet created a distinct characteristic to attract tourists. “These provinces have organized similar activities, such as boat racing, windsurfing, and beach tourism, but with similar tourism products, it’s difficult for them to stimulate tourism growth,” according to Tuan.
Associate Professor Dr. Le Chi Cong, Head of the Tourism Faculty at Nha Trang University, said the ultimate goal of merging is to maximize conditions to boost regional development linkages and leverage the strengths of each area to create unique, attractive tourism products.
Cong said, “The destinations have similarities but tourism products lack differentiation, failing to leverage the advantages of each locality. If they are merged into one region, the region will develop strongly and avoid overlap in tourism products. Connectivity is an inevitable trend to create overall strength, helping to compete with world-class destinations.”
According to Dr. Nguyen Sy Dung, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office, the selection of merging options is based on making the most of regional advantages, respecting core values, and promoting connectivity and interaction between natural-ecological units.
Essentially, the rearrangement of provinces, central cities, and grassroots is "territorial reorganization" for rapid, effective, and sustainable development in the context of a "flat world" with rising support from digital transformation and artificial intelligence.
Dung said, “The age of technology, the digital age, has prompted us to do the merging. In the digital era, distances almost disappear. Based on the foundation of science and technology, it’s not necessary to divide into too many administrative units. Instead, we just need a more efficient governance system.”
Merging coastal provinces and cities with provinces in corresponding river basins will improve efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in developing Vietnam's marine economy.
The merging will tap the transboundary nature of natural-ecological regions in regional linkages and unify the governance of merged provinces, create a larger, more open space, and attract more investment for future marine economic development.