4 - 11 - 2020
Lo Te - Rach Soi highway was officially opened to technical traffic on the afternoon of October 15, 2020, connecting the whole province of Kien Giang with Can Tho. As a potential tourist city, Ha Tien is benefiting greatly from this event.
'Take off the tight clothes'
The Lo Te - Rach Soi route has a length of 51 km, a road surface of 17 m, with 4 lanes of cars traveling at a speed of 80 km/h. The first point connects to Vam Cong bridge, Can Tho city. The endpoint is at Chau Thanh, Kien Giang, connecting with the Rach Gia bypass project.
Currently, from Kien Giang to Vam Cong, there is only one route, National Highway 80 - 70 km long, but it is overloaded and takes 2 hours to travel. After the traffic is opened, Lo Te - Rach Soi highway will help the travel time to Rach Gia is 50 minutes and Ha Tien city is about 2 hours instead of 3 hours like before. "The route connects with the horizontal highways from Chau Doc - Tran De, Ha Tien - Ca Mau... creating 'backbones', completing traffic connections, helping the Mekong Delta rise", Mr. Do Thanh Binh, Chairman of Kien Giang province said.
At the same time, National Highway 80, the section from Kien Luong town to the international border gate of Ha Tien city also started construction in early June this year, with a speed of 60km/h, expected to open to traffic in the first quarter of 2021. Recorded by the end of October 2020, the contractor has deployed to Thuan Yen commune, Ha Tien city. Thus, the biggest minus point for Ha Tien tourism for many years is that traffic will be removed early next year. This is an important premise for the tourism and economic development of this coastal city.
Accelerated tourism
Ha Tien is the first coastal city to spend hundreds of billions of VND on sand pumping to renovate the coast, bringing a beautiful white sand beach that is not inferior to the central beaches. In addition to the above project, the city has also completed the restoration of Da Dung mountain relic, built a memorial house for Don Ca Tai Tu, renovated the barrier of the city center, relocated the night market to a new urban area, prepared resources for the renovation of "branded" tourist attractions. At the moment, Ha Tien actively promotes and expands tourist routes to Dong Ho lagoon, and Hai Tac island... to make the most of their available strengths. Also, actively invite investment in tourism and real estate projects to change the city's appearance.
Strategies to keep up with the trend are helping the tourism industry here 'reap' outstanding achievements. Only in May 2020, Ha Tien welcomed over 40,000 tourists, accounting for 58.4% of the total number of visitors in the province, surpassing Phu Quoc. Recently, Mr. Vu Duy Vu - Deputy General Director of Saigontourist Travel Company, and the delegation evaluated Ha Tien and Kien Luong to have beautiful, unique, natural landscapes and great potential to connect with tours from Saigontourist. "Through the survey trip, I found that the traffic is a big obstacle for tourism in Ha Tien city. If the transport infrastructure is completed soon, tourism will develop," said Mr. Vu.
Investors seek opportunities in new markets
Despite the COVID-19 wave, the real estate market in Ha Tien is still heating with the silent bullish wave. Wandering around Ha Tien, newly-opened trading floors are active along the Highway 80 route. Most buyers tend to choose the coastal location, where transport infrastructure and utilities have been formed. Typically, Ha Tien new urban area - a new area invested by CNT Group. This is a major city project, embracing the arterial traffic axis connecting the city center to Mui Nai, focusing on existing high-class utilities and a busy commercial strip. As revealed by Mr. Mai Duc Toan - sales manager, only in September, more than 80% of the launched slots have been successfully deposited even though there was no centralized sale event. Not to mention the transferable products are also effectively traded.
A corner in Ha Tien's new urban area
"Transport is gradually improving, the tourism market is changing day by day, gaining trust and real value for investors. It can be optimistic that, as the only land-based coastal tourism city in the Southwest, when properly invested with complete transport infrastructure. The position of Ha Tien city in the Southwest will be similar to Vung Tau in the Southeast as Vung Tau attracts short-term tourists from Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding areas with its proximity and convenience to move. If you go on a short-term beach trip in the Southwest, Ha Tien will be the best choice for Cambodia and Thailand tourists", Mr. Toan explained.
Generating the heat of this emerging market, Ha Tien city is rising to become the destination for real estate businesses. In the category of calling for additional investment in the 2018-2020 period, Ha Tien attracted 16 large-scale projects. Notably, such as Bai Bang high-class resort area (99ha), the complex urban area of Foro Dai ward (lot A5 -10ha), the sea tourism service urban area of Dao Dai (99ha), Thuan Yen service beach tourism area (99 ha), golf course and resort villas of Ha Tien international border (99 ha), Hai Tac island and sea eco-tourism area (30 ha – T&T company),… The projects mentioned above are being applied by some businesses for investment policy such as VinGroup, City Land, Ha Do Group, CNT Group, etc.