 
General information
- Geographic location: Phu Tho is bounded by Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai provinces to the North, by Son La and Hoa Binh provinces to the West, by Ha Tay to the South and by Vinh Phuc to the East.
- Area: 3, 5284 km².
- Topographic features: The main feature is strongly partitioned topography because of its location in the end of Hoang Lien Son mountain range, the area of mountains and hills accounts for over 64% of the total natural area. Rivers and streams account for 4.1% of the area.
- Administrative unit: Phu Tho is divided into Viet Tri city, Phu Tho town and 11 districts: Ha Hoa, Thanh Ba, Doan Hung, Lam Thao, Yen Lap, Thanh Son, Tam Nong, Thanh Thuy, Phu Ninh, Cam Khe, Tan Son.
- Population: 13,366,000 (Vietnam Statistical Yearbook 2006).
Resources
- Natural resources: The province has 97,513.53 hectares of agricultural land, 148,885.67 hectares of forestry land, 22,744.94 hectared for specialize use. It also has great potentiality of materials for paper production, agricultural and forestry products, mineral such as kaolin, fenspat, limestone, mineral water, etc., enabling the province to develop mineral exploitation and processing, paper industry, porcelain, ceramic industry, production of cement and other construction materials, etc.
- Tourism: The province has great potentiality for developing natural and cultural tourism such as Xuan Son National Park including plentiful plants, animals (even rare and precious species listed in Vietnam’s Red book); Ao Chau pond, fresh water caves which are considered “inland Halong bay”. Besides, there are many historical monuments and festivals in the province such as Hung Kings’ temple, Bach Hac, Chu Hoa, etc.
- Human resources: this is also an attraction to investors. In 2004 the number of people of working age is 980,000 accounting for 62% of the total population. It is estimated to reach 850,000 in 2010 and 976,000 in 2010 in which trained employees account for 60-65%.
Infrustructure
- Transportation system: Transportation system is quite good here with many national highways running through the province (national highways No. 2, 32A, 32C, Cross-Asia Road, Ho Chi Minh route, cross-asia railway route (from Yunnan, China running through Lao Cai province and Phu Tho). Viet Tri city where 3 big rivers of Red river, Lo river and Da river meet is famous for its River port (one of the 3 biggest river port of the North with the annual capacity of 1 million ton.
- Power supply system: The system is stable here with national power network connected to all communes meeting domestic and production need.
- Water supply and drainage system: Clean water supply system with German technology having the daily capacity of 42,000m3 can sufficiently meet households and production need of the provinces and neighbouring areas.
- Post and telecommunication system: All post and telecommunication services of high quality can be found in Phu Tho and its system is connected with the national ones to ensure smooth connections nationwide and worldwide.
- Industrial zones: Phu Tho has 3 industrial zones: Trung Ha Industrial zone with the total area of 126.59 hectares in 3 communes of Hong Da, Thuong Nong and Xuan Loc; Tam Nong Industrial zone with the total area of 120 hectares in two communes of Van Luong and Co Tiet; Thuy Van Industrial zone with the total area of 323 hectares in Thuy Van commune of Viet Tri city.
Development plan up to the year 2010
- GDP growth rate: It is planned to reach the rate of 10% yearly. GDP per capital in 2010 is planned to reach 1.7 – 1.9 times more than that of 2005.
- Sectors’ development plan:
+ Services: It is planned to reach the GDP growth rate of 12.8% annually (2005-2020) with comprehensive development of the service sector, focusing on goods transportation and tourism. The proportion of the service sector is planned to increase from 33.7% to 36% in 2010 and to 39.9% in 2020.
+ Agriculture-Forestry-Fishery: It is planned to reach the average growth rate of 4% annually (2008-2010) and 3.7% annually (2011-2020), GDP of 1,307 billion VND and 1,761 billion VND respectively.
+ Industry: It is planned to reach the average growth rate of 13.6% annually (2006-2010) and 12.5% (2011-2020) with focus on quickly developing key industry such as agriculture-forestry-fishery processing; production of cement, paper and construction materials; mineral exploitation and processing.
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