The power grid is widely developed throughout the province, serving well the socio-economic development. Photo: C. Truc

Many infrastructure projects

Electricity and roads are the most mentioned words when starting to build the homeland. The province is an island land separated by rivers. The people of the province have always dreamed of convenient transportation to integrate with the Mekong Delta and the whole country. Therefore, in the late 20th century and early 21st century, the province has focused all resources to build many electricity projects and river bridges, opening a new turning point for the development of the province.

In 2009, the people of the province were overjoyed when the Rach Mieu Bridge (RM) was inaugurated and put into use. The RM Bridge started construction on April 30, 2002 and was inaugurated on January 19, 2009. The bridge was built on National Highway 60, invested by the Ministry of Transport. The project has a total length of 8,331.05m. Of which, the total length of the 2 bridges (No. 1 and No. 2) is 2,868.6m; the road at both ends of the bridge is about 5,462m. The bridge is designed with a load capacity of HL93. The RM Bridge put into use has opened up new development advantages for the province.

After 16 years of operation, the RM bridge often experiences traffic congestion, especially on holidays, Tet, Saturdays and Sundays. Currently, the traffic volume through the RM bridge - National Highway 60 is about 20 thousand vehicles/day and night, 3 times higher than the initial expected traffic volume when the RM bridge was designed, which was 6 thousand vehicles/day and night.

From that bottleneck, the Resolution of the 11th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, determined that the RM2 bridge project occupies the number 1 important position among 11 key projects and works of the province. In April 2025, the people of the province welcomed the closing ceremony of the RM2 bridge. The RM2 bridge project has currently reached 85% of the construction volume and is expected to put the entire project into operation in August 2025. The RM2 bridge access road project invested by the province was also opened to traffic on April 27, 2025.

Ham Luong Bridge was started on January 17, 2006, inaugurated on April 24, 2010, on National Highway 60, across Ham Luong River. The main bridge is over 8.2km long, the approach bridge is nearly 1.3km long. This is a project to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi. The completed Ham Luong Bridge has 3 outstanding features: early site clearance; the main span was constructed using the balanced cantilever method with a span of 150m (the largest in Vietnam) and completed ahead of schedule. Ham Luong Bridge connects Minh Islet and Bao Islet, also meaning that half of Ben Tre people no longer have to live by ferry to the provincial center, Ben Tre City, and at the same time, they can share and benefit from the RM Bridge like the people of Bao Islet and An Hoa Islet.

Regarding inter-regional traffic, the province has Co Chien Bridge, started on March 7, 2011, inaugurated on May 16, 2015, across Co Chien River, connecting Mo Cay Nam District (Ben Tre Province) with Cang Long District (Tra Vinh Province) on National Highway 60. Co Chien Bridge is one of four important projects implemented in the program to develop the transport infrastructure system in the Mekong Delta. At the same time, it is also one of four important bridges on National Highway 60 along with RM Bridge, Ham Luong Bridge and Dai Ngai Bridge (Soc Trang Province).

Regarding electricity, there is a power line across the Tien River. This is the first river crossing project in the province with equipment and consulting experts invested by the Soviet Union, marking the spirit of friendly cooperation between Vietnam and the Soviet Union. The project started on January 17, 1987 and was inaugurated on May 19, 1989. The capacity of phase 1 is 16,000KVA. The entire power line is 17km long, from the 66KV Cho Lon - My Tho transformer station connecting to the 110KV Ben Tre transformer station (now in Hamlet 1, Son Dong commune, Ben Tre city). Along the entire line, 4 overpasses, each 88m high, 2 anchor pillars and 105 intermediate pillars, each 20m high.

Next, the province started to build a 35kV power line across the Ham Luong River to bring electricity to the districts of Minh Islet. The two projects of the Tien River Power Line and the Ham Luong River Power Line brought the national grid to the entire province. This marked the strong development of the electricity industry and met the province's increasing demand for electricity in the new period.

In particular, in the period of 2020 - 2025, the province has formed an energy center in the Eastern region, with wind power as the main source. With the advantage of a 65km long coastline and stable wind resources, the province has made the most of its potential to develop large-scale wind power projects. “The province has granted investment policies and implemented 19 wind power projects, with a total capacity of 1,007.7MW. Currently, 9 projects have been completed with a total capacity of 374MW (close to the target of 500MW by 2025). By the end of 2024, the province will have 250.75MW of wind power and 69MW of solar power connected to the grid…”, said Director of the Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Van Be Sau.

Strong economic growth

In recent years, the province's economy has made important strides. In the period 2006 - 2010, the province established and put into operation 2 industrial parks (IPs) Giao Long and An Hiep (Chau Thanh district), contributing significantly to the growth of the local industry. In 2010 alone, these 2 IPs created a production value of about 650 billion VND, accounting for about 18% of the total industrial production value of the province. At the same time, they created jobs for more than 7,000 workers.

Entering the period of 2011 - 2015, the province's industry continued to make a strong breakthrough when the production value increased from 9.2 trillion VND in 2010 to 18.3 trillion VND in 2015. In the period of 2016 - 2020, the value of industrial and handicraft production (calculated at 2010 comparative prices) maintained an average growth rate of 14.5%/year, with added value reaching an average increase of 13.8%/year. Notably, by 2024, for the first time, the province reached an import-export turnover of 2.2 billion USD, of which exports reached 1.75 billion USD, coconut exports reached 0.52 billion USD.

The province has identified this as the area with the highest growth rate, the main driving force for the development of the entire economic sector of the province. Currently, the province is focusing resources on investing in industrial infrastructure development, accelerating the completion of key industrial parks such as Phu Thuan, Giao Hoa and Phuoc Long. Notably, Phu Thuan Industrial Park, with a total investment capital of more than VND 3,539 billion. The goal is to attract and fill the area of ​​Phu Thuan Industrial Park by the end of 2025, with priority given to the local strengths in agricultural and aquatic product processing industries.

Implementing the goal of economic development towards the East, with the Project of developing 4,000 hectares of high-tech shrimp farming, the aquaculture industry in coastal communes of the province is having positive changes towards high technology. The accumulated farming area to date has reached more than 3,600 hectares, reaching 90.25%. The high-tech shrimp farming model has achieved a productivity of about 60 - 70 tons/ha. The province is implementing 3 investment projects to build infrastructure works for aquaculture areas in Binh Dai district; Investment project for technical infrastructure for high-tech marine shrimp farming areas in Binh Dai district; Infrastructure project for high-tech shrimp farming areas in Ba Tri district, with a total investment of 250 billion VND. The infrastructure project for aquaculture areas in Binh Dai district has been completed and put into use.

Cultural and social development

50 years after liberation, the provincial agencies and functional units have carried out practical activities, contributing to the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values ​​as well as the implementation of valuable cultural and artistic works. One of the typical cultural works that has become a symbol of the province is the Dong Khoi Monument. The first Dong Khoi Monument was built in Dong Khoi Park and inaugurated in 1995 with reinforced concrete material. By April 2023, the monument was upgraded and the material was changed to granite. The Dong Khoi Monument is a work of art that clearly, concisely, and authentically expresses the ideological theme of the Dong Khoi movement and has generalized the resilient spirit of the people of Ben Tre.

The rich treasure of intangible cultural heritage and tangible cultural heritage as well as typical cultural works of the province have marked the historical and cultural values ​​and reflected the life and spirit of Ben Tre people in the stages of development. The whole province currently has 63 provincial-level relics, 16 national relics, 2 special national relics: Nguyen Dinh Chieu Tomb and Memorial Site, Dong Khoi relic. In addition, the province also has 4 intangible cultural heritages included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritages, namely: Phu Le Sach Bua Singing, Binh Thang Nghinh Ong Festival, My Long rice paper making, Son Doc rice paper making. Ben Tre Museum has collected and preserved 20,000 artifacts, images, and secondary scientific documents (15,000 artifacts and 5,000 images, scientific documents) with rich and diverse historical and cultural values ​​related to the process of formation and development of the province through many historical periods.

In the field of education, the province currently has over 500 educational institutions from preschool to high school. The rate of schools meeting national standards has been increasing steadily over the years. By early 2025, the province had nearly 250 schools meeting national standards (new standards), accounting for approximately 50% of the total number of schools at all levels. Many districts such as Giong Trom, Ba Tri, Chau Thanh... have achieved high results in the movement to build standard schools, contributing to improving the quality of comprehensive education.

In the health sector, the grassroots health network has been strongly strengthened. The whole province currently has 100% of commune, ward and town health stations meeting the national health criteria (according to the new stage standards). The province has completed the goal of building commune health standards many years ago, becoming one of the leading localities in the Mekong Delta region in terms of the rate of qualified health stations. In addition, the province has also promoted investment in the district and provincial hospital system, improving the quality of medical examination and treatment and primary health care for the people.

T. Thao - C. Truc - T. Dong - P. Han

Source: https://baodongkhoi.vn/dau-an-nhung-du-an-cong-trinh-xay-dung-phat-trien-que-huong-30042025-a145955.html