Opening up industrial corridors, logistics
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (74 years old, Dat Mui commune, Ca Mau) was moved when talking about the Ca Mau - Dat Mui expressway: "My whole life I never thought this place would have an expressway passing through". The project is expected not only to shorten travel time but also to open up a new development corridor for the coastal area.
The Ca Mau - Dat Mui expressway is about 90km long, with a scale of 4 lanes. According to the dossier of Adjusting the Provincial Plan for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050, Ca Mau establishes a space organization model including 1 dynamic axis, 2 centers, 3 growth poles, 4 regions, 5 corridors.
In which, the Can Tho - Ca Mau - Dat Mui route directly connecting to Hon Khoai port cluster is identified as a driving force for development. This is not only a transportation route but also oriented to become an economic corridor, a place to concentrate production, logistics, urban, and service activities.
Promoting the advantage of the expressway passing through, Ca Mau plans to exploit land funds on both sides of the route to develop logistics, dry ports, cold storage, clean industrial parks, ecological urban areas and satellite cities, associated with the strengths of each locality.
In the area adjacent to Ca Mau urban area in Ho Thi Ky commune, the plan is expected to arrange an urban logistics service center combined with logistics with a scale of 40 - 75ha, playing the role of collecting goods, distributing intra-provincial goods, and transshipping passengers.
Along the expressway through Khanh An commune, agricultural land, vacant land, and sparsely populated areas are oriented to be converted to form concentrated light industrial parks, cold storage centers, and agricultural and aquatic product preservation lines with a scale of 100 - 200ha.
At the intersection in Khanh Binh commune, the orientation is to build a regional logistics center with an area of 70-150ha, including a container yard and a large-capacity cold storage. This is expected to become a focal point to attract logistics businesses to invest and exploit.
Hung My and Phu My communes are planned to develop large-scale supporting industrial clusters and zones for export seafood processing. Dat Moi commune plays the role of provincial-level logistics center with an area of about 30 - 35ha.
Sea reclamation creates new land fund for marine economy
The biggest highlight in the development orientation along the expressway is the area at the end of the sea-facing axis, belonging to Dat Mui and Phan Ngoc Hien communes.
Here, Ca Mau is expected to implement a controlled embankment and sea encroachment project with a length of about 35km, creating a new land fund of 800 - 1,000ha. This is a very large land fund scale, expected to open up more room for marine economic development in the context of increasingly limited land funds on land.
According to the zoning orientation, about 215ha is reserved for the expanded port logistics service area; 240ha for satellite logistics; 100ha serving the sea encroachment industrial zone specializing in repair, shipbuilding, and marine mechanics; 195ha for the eco-tourism urban area.
The remaining land fund is allocated to residential areas, resettlement areas, worker housing and works serving production, commerce, and services.
Answering the press, Mr. Huynh Cong Quan - Director of Ca Mau Department of Finance - informed: The sea encroachment land fund chain is positioned as a direct rear base to receive goods from the inland, connecting with the international maritime route through the Gulf of Thailand - East Sea. On that basis, Ca Mau plans to propose the establishment of a Free Economic Zone, gradually forming a new growth pole of the Mekong Delta region.
The energy system is also synchronously invested with the Khai Long wind power plant chain, with a total estimated capital of 40,000 billion VND, along with 110kV sea-crossing power lines, serving seaports, industrial parks and marine economy.
Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee Lu Quang Ngoi said that in the 2026-2030 period, the locality identifies public investment as bait capital, prioritizing strategic transportation, irrigation, sea dykes and disaster prevention. When infrastructure is completed, Ca Mau expects to attract more non-budget capital through public-private partnerships and foreign direct investment.
From a highway about 90km long, logistics corridor of hundreds of hectares to land fund for sea reclamation of 800 - 1,000ha, Hon Khoai deep-water port of 24,000 billion VND, Khai Long wind power chain of 40,000 billion VND, Ca Mau is shaping a chain of development linking the mainland with the sea.
To make the planning orientations a specific project, the locality must also solve the problem of resources, investment mechanisms, site clearance, environment, and synchronous infrastructure at the same time. This will be a decisive factor for the Ca Mau - Dat Mui expressway to truly become a driving force to expand the marine economic space, instead of just a traffic route connecting the southernmost region.
