OVERVIEW OF NINH THUAN NATURAL CONDITIONS

1. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION

Ninh Thuan, located in the southern part of Vietnam Central Coastal Region, borders Khanh Hoa in the North, Binh Thuan in the South, Lam Dong in the West, East Sea in the East.

The province has total natural surface of 3,358 km², 7 administrative units: 01 city and 6 districts. Phan Rang - Thap Cham city of type II, as provincial city, constitutes a political, economic and cultural center of the province, distant from Ho Chi Minh city by 350 km, from Cam Ranh airport by 60 km, from Nha Trang city by 105 km and from Da Lat city by 110 km with favorable conditions for the circulations of socio-economic development.

2. TOPOLOGY

The topology of Ninh Thuan can be characterized as follows: it is gradually sloping from north-west to southeast, with three typical topologies: mountains account for 63.2 percent of the province’s total natural surface, while half-mountain half-plain areas for 14.4 percent and coastal plain areas for 22.4 percent.

3. CLIMATIC AND HYDROGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

Ninh Thuan has a typically tropical monsoon climate, with the features of draught, heat, much wind, strong evaporation; annual average temperature is around 26 - 27⁰C; annual average rainfall of 700 - 800 mm in Phan Rang and gradually increasing to more than 1,100 mm in mountainous areas; humidity around 75 - 77%, radiating energy around 160 Kcl/cm²; total calories around 9,500 - 10,000^oC. There are two different seasons: rainy season (Sep-Nov); dry season (Dec-Aug).

The water resources in Ninh Thuan are distributed unevenly concentrated mainly in the North and central part of province. Meanwhile, the underground water is quite limited in quantity equaling only to one third of the country-wide average.

4. LAND/SOIL

The province’s total natural surface accounts for 335,534 hectares, of which agricultural production land 83,618 hectares; forestry land of 188,997 hectares; aquaculture land of 2,028 hectares; salt production land of 3,809 hectares; regularly used land 19,512 hectares; residential land 4,948 hectares; rivers, streams and regularly used water surface 5,262 hectares; the remaining is unused land.

5. MARINE RESOURCES

With a coastline of 105.8 km, the province’s fishing field is found in a region with rich and diverse resources of aqua-products, including more than 500 species of aqua-products. In addition, there exists a highly rich bio-system of corals with over 120 species and extremely precious turtles, uniquely in Ninh Thuan. The coastal region comprises a deal of gulfs and lagoons, relevant to tourism development and feasible for developing aquaculture and shrimp breeding.

6. NATURAL RESOURCE AND MINERALS

Metal minerals include wolfram, molybdenum, tin, gold. Titan in Ninh Thuan’s coastal region with reserve of millions of tons.

Non-metal minerals include crystal quartz, granite, glass-led and porcelain led clay, etc.

Raw materials for producing construction materials comprise granite with total reserve of about 850 million cubic meters, lime mortal with reserve of about 1.5 million cubic meter; coral-originated limestone concentrated in the coastal region with reserve of about 2.5 million tones of CaO; ingredient clay, construction stone, etc.

Potential of mud minerals has been just discovered at Suoi Da village, Loi Hai Commune, Thuan Bac District, Ninh Thuan province. According to the survey results of Central Vietnam Division of water Resources Planning and Investigation under Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, mud mineral here has very good quality, containing no toxic chemical with expected reserves of over 30,000 tons. So, mud minerals can be continuously investigated, explored and exploited in this area to serve tourism (mud bath combined with medical treatment just as the hot springs in Nhi Ha and Tan My communes).