Planning adjustment is an urgent requirement
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just assigned the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies to be the lead agency in preparing the city's master plan, with the goal of completing the submission and approval before November 30, 2026.
This plan will comprehensively assess factors from socio-economics, population, population distribution, land use to urban and rural systems. On that basis, the city builds growth scenarios, selects optimal development options in regional linkages, and at the same time identifies short-term, medium-term and long-term vision goals.
According to architect Pham Tran Hai - Deputy Head of Urban Management Research Department, Ho Chi Minh City Development Research Institute, the overall plan needs to be based on 3 strategic pillars including: Restructuring development space; connecting inter-regional transport infrastructure; synchronizing infrastructure and allocating investment.
In which, restructuring the development space needs to rearrange the previously disjointed planning areas, form unified development areas, avoiding competition between each other such as between seaports or industrial parks. For example, Binh Chanh area may reduce industrial development, shifting to areas with greater room such as Binh Duong or Ba Ria - Vung Tau before.
Regarding infrastructure connection, the city will focus on connecting the urban railway system between Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Vung Tau, and at the same time adjust and supplement connecting routes from Vung Tau - Can Gio - Ho Chi Minh City center - Dong Nai, avoiding the situation of being fragmented as previously planned.
In addition, the master plan will review the entire list of priority projects of the three localities before merging, classifying them into two groups: Groups that need to increase priority levels such as ring roads, connecting axes and groups that need to review the level of urgency such as administrative centers, train stations, and industrial parks.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 3 layers of planning including city-level planning, general planning and local-level planning. These layers of planning will be reviewed and closely integrated to avoid overlap and contradictions.
Need linked thinking instead of localized thinking
Doctor of Science, Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son believes that the vast space and modern infrastructure system are creating golden opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to develop after the merger of Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. According to Mr. Nam Son, the "quartier" region previously including Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau has always been the most potential region in the Southeast and the whole country, with high budget contribution, good infrastructure and high income.
Binh Duong has Song Than station - the largest railway station in the country; Dong Nai owns Long Thanh airport; Ba Ria - Vung Tau has a modern Thi Vai - Cai Mep port complex; and Ho Chi Minh City is the economic and financial center of the region.
The merger has helped Ho Chi Minh City own unprecedented "most" advantages, creating conditions to calculate a completely new economic and urban problem. Previously, the multi-center urban planning of Ho Chi Minh City still depended on limited linkages between regions, especially Can Gio area with its location as a biosphere reserve, with little production - service linkage.
Now, with Ba Ria - Vung Tau, seaport connection is completely different: Can Gio Port can connect with Thi Vai - Cai Mep cluster through a short bridge; Binh Duong will connect the railway from Song Than station to Thi Vai - Cai Mep, forming Song Than - Thi Vai - Cai Mep - Can Gio linkage cluster, exploiting the potential of Can Gio's golden forest and silver sea.
Urban connectivity is also no longer dependent on Metro Line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien), but can be expanded from the inner city of Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Duong New City and down to Vung Tau, becoming an important backbone. With its high terrain, Binh Duong is favorable for sustainable urban development, affordable housing and climate change adaptation.
According to Mr. Ngo Viet Nam Son, the new plan needs regional linkage thinking, instead of localism. Tay Ninh and Dong Nai, although without the sea, own international border gates - an important link connecting the ASEAN economic corridor. The axes connecting with Dong Nai will strengthen regional linkages, creating outstanding socio-economic advantages for the Southeast region. Mr. Son emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City needs to soon adjust the plan to evaluate and effectively exploit new factors, maximizing development opportunities.
