Infrastructure remains a major bottleneck
Officially put into operation from January 1, 2021, Thu Duc City (based on the merger of Districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc) with an area of over 211 km² and a population of over 1 million people is the first "city within a city" model in Vietnam.
The city is expected to become the economic nucleus of Ho Chi Minh City, contributing 30% of the total regional product (GRDP) and accounting for 7% of the country's GDP.
After 4 years, Thu Duc has achieved progress in socio-economic development, with budget revenue of more than 60,000 billion VND.
Another bright spot is that Thu Duc City has established a Public Administration Center, processing nearly 90% of files online and achieving a rate of nearly 100% of files being resolved on time.
However, after the merger, Thu Duc City has not had any breakthrough infrastructure projects, many large projects are still in a state of stagnation.
In Thu Thiem New Urban Area - which is oriented to become a technology and financial center - the project to build 4 main roads, although 88% complete, is still unfinished due to land acquisition problems.
Rach Chiec National Sports Complex, planned 30 years ago to become a sports and health center, remains only on paper.
In the High-Tech Park, many strategic projects have also encountered obstacles. Typically, the Saigon Silicon Park project, which was expected to attract high-tech enterprises, had its investment license revoked due to non-implementation and abandonment.
Thu Duc has great potential for seaports and logistics thanks to the Cat Lai - Phu Huu port cluster and Truong Tho cargo port. However, the Truong Tho area has not changed significantly since its establishment.
Creating infrastructure breakthroughs to boost growth
According to Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen - Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, after 4 years, people have not felt any significant changes from the merger of the three districts.
Traffic jams, congestion, and serious flooding in Thu Duc City are still pressing issues that have not been completely resolved.
Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City and Thu Duc City need to have a more strategic approach in prioritizing projects. "It is necessary to clearly identify which projects are urgent and which are what people expect most to avoid spreading out and lacking focus on investment," said Mr. Nguyen.
Dr. Tran Du Lich - Chairman of the Advisory Council for the implementation of Resolution 98 said that the specific mechanisms and policies under Resolution 98 have helped Thu Duc City to be more strongly decentralized and delegated.
Many tasks previously under the authority of Ho Chi Minh City departments and branches have now been transferred to Thu Duc City, including planning and adjustment, licensing and budget management.
This not only increases initiative but also creates conditions for localities to speed up the progress of major projects and resolve backlogs.
However, according to Dr. Tran Du Lich, Thu Duc City needs to invest more heavily in building a high-quality management team with enough capacity to operate a city with a population of over one million people and a large economic scale.
Mr. Hoang Tung - Chairman of Thu Duc City People's Committee, admitted that in the past 4 years, the city has not been able to implement many new infrastructure projects. Recently completed projects (Nam Ly Bridge, Long Dai Bridge...) are mainly backlog projects from before the merger.
"The period 2025 - 2030 will be the time when Thu Duc City will make a breakthrough, with many specific products. Thu Duc will include the projects in the content of the Resolution of the Thu Duc City Party Congress, contributing to changing the face of infrastructure" - Mr. Hoang Tung said.
