Currently, after expanding the development space, the city manages more than 12.8 million vehicles, including over 1.4 million cars and nearly 11.4 million motorbikes.
The proportion of land allocated for traffic does not meet the requirements, underground, above-ground, multi-story parking lots are seriously lacking; the situation of sidewalk and roadway occupancy is common.
Meanwhile, large universities, end-level hospitals, administrative - financial centers and industrial parks such as Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone are still concentrated in the urban core.
As a result, every day, millions of people from the suburbs flock to the center to study, work, and get medical treatment, creating a huge flow of traffic, exceeding the infrastructure load capacity.
Therefore, the policy of relocating educational and medical facilities to suburban areas and planning to follow metro lines is a suitable direction.
According to the plan until 2035, the city will have 27 urban railway lines. In this term, strive to complete 3 important lines including Ben Thanh - Tham Luong, Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem and Thu Thiem - Long Thanh airport.
If universities and hospitals are located at major transit stations, people can access them by public transport instead of private cars.
However, the decisive issue is how to do it.
First, it is impossible to mechanically relocate all schools and hospitals. Specialized facilities with historical and specialized elements need to be carefully considered.
Second, it is necessary to solve the problem of benefits.
The "golden" land fund after relocation must be managed transparently, prioritizing education, healthcare, green space and public space as stated in the policy, avoiding the risk of commercialization.
Third, it is necessary to ensure synchronous infrastructure before moving.
It is impossible to bring tens of thousands of students and patients to the suburbs when public transport is not complete, social housing, dormitories, and auxiliary services are not ready.
Fourth, a strong enough financial mechanism and a feasible roadmap are needed.
Hiring more than 30 international consulting units to build integrated planning is a positive step. But planning is only meaningful when it is concretized by resources, clear investment phasing and transparent accountability.
Relocating universities and hospitals from the inner city is not only to reduce traffic jams.
That is an opportunity to restructure urban space, shifting from a "core" model to a multi-center, functionally distributed model, and balanced development between the center and the suburbs.
Whether this determination can be achieved or not depends on a core principle, planning must go one step ahead, infrastructure must be synchronized, and public interest must be put first.
