General information

- Geographic location: Bac Giang is bounded by Lang Son province to the North and North-East, by Hanoi and Thai Nguyen province to the West and North-West, by Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh provinces to the South and South-East.

- Area: 158,100 km² 

- Topographic features: the province is characterized by features of both mountainous and midland areas. Low mountainous and hilly areas mainly in districts of Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam and Yen The account for 89.5% of the province’s total area. Midland areas including districts of Tan Yen, Hiep Hoa, Viet Yen, Yen Dung, Lang Giang and Bac Giang town account for 10.5%.

- Administrative units: include Bac Giang town and 9 districts of Yen The, Tan Yen, Luc Ngan, Hiep Hoa, Lang Giang, Son Dong, Luc Nam, Viet Yen andYen Dung.

- Population: 1.58 million (Year 2005). 

Resources

- Natural resources: Bac Giang has 382,200 hectares of natural soil, 110,000 hectares of forestry soil and many mineral mines with the estimated deposits of 114 million ton of  coal in Yen The, Luc Ngan, Son Dong, 0.5 million ton of iron ore in Yen The, approx. 100,000 ton of copper ore in Luc Ngan, Son Dong, 3 million ton of kaolin in Yen Dung.

- Tourism resources: Bắc Giang has a lot of potentiality for developing natural and cultural tourism in 7,000 hectares of primeval forests in Khe Ro (Son Dong), Mo stream (Luc Nam), Cam Son Lake (Luc Ngan), etc and in 175 ranked cultural monuments like Hoang Hoa Tham historic monument, La pagoda, Bo Da pagoda.

- Human resources: the province’s total population was approx. 1.58 million in 2005 in which the number of people of working age is 980,000 (accounting for 62% of the population), the number of people involved in economic activities is 830,000 in which 8,86% in construction, industry sector, 14.57% in service and 76.58% in agriculture, forestry and fishery.

Infrastructure

- Transportation: quite convenient with 3 railway lines crossing the province which are Hanoi – Lang Son, Hanoi – Thai Nguyen, Hanoi – Quang Ninh; more than 4,000km of roadway with newly built National highway No. 1A crossing the province creating links with districts, connection points can be developed to be industrial zones, clusters to attract investment. Besides, the province has 187km of waterway with 3 ports: A Lu and 2 specialized ports of Ha Bac Chemical and Nitrogenous Fertilizer Company

- Power supply system: include 2 110kW transformer stations with the capacity of 85 MVA, 781km of medium tension current, 2,105km of low tension current and 678 transformer stations. Average power consumption is 180KWh/person/year

- Water supply: plentiful thanks to 3 rivers running across the province. Infrastructure works related to water supply are being completed.

- Post and telecommunication: developing over the last few years. More than 95% of communes have telephones. Card telephone was firstly introduced in the province in October 1997 and currently found in all communes through 65 stations. Mobile phone service is provided through 5 Vinaphone stations and 2 Mobiphone and available in Bac Giang town and 5 districts.

- Industrial zones: Bac Giang has 3 industrial zones which are Dinh Tram with a total area of 101 hectares in 2 communes (Hoang Ninh and Hong Thai of Viet Yen district); Quang Chau with a total area of 426 hectares in 1 commune (Quang Chau of Viet Yen district); Song Khe – Noi Hoang with a total area of 32.09 hectares in Yen Dung district.

Economic situations

- Growth rate: the average growth rate is 8.7%/year for the period 1997 – 2007 (The province was re-organized in 1997), 9.3% in 2005, 9.5% in 2006, over 10% in 2007; Budget credit and export increased by 24.5-26%/year

- Economic structure: changed in a positive way in which the proportion of agriculture-forestry-fishery reduced from 45% in 2004 to 43.5%; the proportion of industry-construction increased from 20.5% in 2004 to 22% in 2005. The proportion of service was 34.5%. The value of local industrial production kept increasing. It was approx. 1,723 billion VND in 2006, increasing by 28.4% compared to that of 2005; it is expected to increase by 28% in 1007 compared to that of 2006.

Development Plan up to the Year 2010

- GDP growth rate: Planned to reach 10-11%.

- Sectors’ development plan:

 + Service: planned to reach the rate of 9.9% annually (2006-2010). Priorities will be given to develop this sector to be key one. Services include trade, transportation, depots, post and telecommunication, tourism such as development of Cam Son lake, Mo stream, Yen Dung – Viet Yen golf, etc.

+ Agriculture-Forestry-Fishery : planned to reach the rate of 4.2%.

Agriculture: develop goods production based on the development of plants, animals which are strong points of the province such as fruits, food and short-term industrial trees; cow, pig breeding.

Forestry: keep the forestry area with 3 kinds of forests unchanged; increase forestry coverage (including orchards grown in forestry land) up to 40.5% in 2010; create jobs for 4,500 employees annually.

Fishery: apply new technology in order to increase the productivity to 2,500-3,000kg/hectare including both industrial and semi-industrial fishery, increase the province’s output of bred fish to 25,000-30,000 ton in 2010.