The Construction Ministry and the People’s Committee of northernmountainous Ha Giang province have agreed on the Dong Van Stone Plateaudevelopment plan to 2030, with an aim of turning it into a nationaltourism centre.

The master plan includes planning for thedevelopment of geo-cultural, geo-scientific and ecological parks incombination with preserving bio-diversity preservation.

Speakingat a working session with the Ha Giang provincial People’s Committee inHa Giang city on November 28, Deputy Construction Minister Nguyen DinhToan stressed that apart from investing in urban development, theprovince needs to focus on maintaining and conserving its intactness andcultural identities of ethnic minority groups in the plateau.

Vice Chairperson of the provincial People’s Committee Sen Chin Lystated that in the coming time, the province will mobilise all sourcesto develop infrastructure, promote the image of Dong Van Stone Plateau,and implement incentives so as to call for domestic and foreignerinvestors to the region.

Dong Van Stone Plateau,which has remained untouched for hundreds of millions of years, isspread over the four districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and DongVan.

The plateau is 80 percentlimestone and contains the fossils of thousands of prehistoric speciesfrom 400-600 million years ago. It is now home to 250,000 people from 17different ethnic groups.

Since the plateau’srecognition as a member of the Global Network of National Geo-parks in2010, Ha Giang’s tourism sector has enjoyed rapid growth.

In 2012, the province welcomed more than 400,000 arrivals and earned 300 billion VND from tourism services.-VNA