On the morning of September 29, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council passed a resolution on the establishment of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture.
According to the resolution, the Department of Planning and Architecture is a specialized agency under the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, with legal status, its own seal and account. The Department is under the direct direction and management of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, and is also subject to guidance and inspection on expertise and profession from the Ministry of Construction and central ministries and branches.
Before the merger, the Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City had 8 departments and 4 public service units, with a total of 111 civil servants. At public service units, there are 47 people receiving salaries from the state budget, 43 people who do not receive salaries from the budget, and 20 contract workers.
According to the new structure, the Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City will organize 6 specialized departments including: Office; Department of General and Digital Technology Application; Department of Inspection and Legal Affairs; General Planning Department; Department of Technical Infrastructure Planning; Department of Regional Planning and Architecture (merged 3 previously affiliated departments).
Regarding the public service unit under the Department, there are 3 units. In which, the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Construction Planning was formed on the basis of merging the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Construction Planning (before the arrangement), the Binh Duong Urban Planning and Development Center and the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Urban Planning and Development Center.
Some functions related to house management, inspection, and construction appraisal of the Binh Duong Urban Planning and Development Center have been handed over to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction for continued management.
The Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City has a Director and Deputy Directors, the number of Deputy Directors is decided by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.
The Director of the Department has the right to decide or submit to competent authorities to appoint, reappoint, and dismiss the head and deputy head of the affiliated agencies and units according to the management decentralization of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and title standards issued by competent authorities.
The number of Deputy Heads of Departments and equivalents under the Department, as well as the number of deputy heads of public service units or departments under the service unit, will be implemented in accordance with current regulations.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, from July 1, 2025, according to Resolution 202/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly, Ho Chi Minh City will be expanded after merging Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, becoming a special urban area with an area of over 6,772 km2, population of over 14 million people, including 168 commune-level and special-zone administrative units.
In the first 7 months of 2025, the city welcomed nearly 22 million visitors, with total local budget expenditure reaching VND 98,290 billion (34.8% of the estimate), disbursing more than VND 47,500 billion, contributing 33.3% to the national budget.
With a large, diverse and complex urban space, Ho Chi Minh City needs to adjust and establish hundreds of new zoning plans and thousands of detailed plans.
The establishment of the Department of Planning and Architecture is an urgent step to ensure the work of state consulting and managing planning and architecture in a synchronous, modern manner, in line with the development vision.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said that, under the direction of General Secretary To Lam, Ho Chi Minh City must be proactive and creative to become a super-urban, financial, logistics, production and innovation center at regional and world level; aiming to be in the top 100 livable cities globally.
The re-establishment of the Department of Planning and Architecture is expected to help Ho Chi Minh City change thinking, promote regional advantages after the merger, implement planning strategies associated with socio-economic development, transport infrastructure, housing policies, water resource management and flood prevention, contributing to realizing the aspiration of "Many strong Vietnam in 2045".
The Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City was first established in 2002 from the Department of Chief Architect of Ho Chi Minh City.
In February 2025, when implementing the restructuring of the apparatus, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council approved the policy of merging this Department into the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction.
