Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue to take the lead and pave the way
On July 2nd, at the Reunification Hall, the City Party Committee - People's Council - People's Committee - Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City solemnly organized the 50th Anniversary of the City of Saigon - Gia Dinh honored to be named after President Ho Chi Minh (July 2, 1976 - July 2, 2026).
Speaking at the ceremony, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that entering a new era, the city is not allowed to be content with the achievements it has achieved. Ho Chi Minh City must not only accompany the country's development but also continue to be a leading locality, paving the way, boldly experimenting with new models, creating breakthroughs and spreading pioneering spirit.
The vision is to build Ho Chi Minh City into a multi-center, multi-polar strategic megacity, competitive in the region and internationally. To realize this goal, the city needs to rely on six decisive factors, including: New thinking, new institutions, new infrastructure, new governance, new staff and new implementation methods.
Among the six groups of key tasks and solutions directed by General Secretary and President To Lam, the highlight is the requirement for Ho Chi Minh City to plan development space in the direction of multi-center, modern, green and smart; strengthening connectivity with the Southeast, Mekong Delta, Central Highlands as well as domestic and international economic centers.
General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized that infrastructure must go one step ahead but needs to be invested with focus and key points, ensuring efficiency. The city needs to prioritize the development of public transport systems, urban railways, ring roads, expressways, seaports, logistics centers, along with digital infrastructure, energy, health, education, culture, housing, flood prevention works and expanding green spaces.
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City needs to strongly innovate the growth model, taking science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green economy, circular economy and data economy as the main driving forces. The city needs to strongly develop an international financial center, high-tech industry, logistics, marine economy, tourism, health, education and cultural industry; and at the same time create a favorable environment for private enterprises to grow stronger, startups to develop, and young people to promote creativity and dedication.
Redesigning growth space for Ho Chi Minh City
Dr. Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son - urban planning expert - shared that he is particularly impressed with the group of tasks on spatial planning for development and infrastructure investment that General Secretary and President To Lam has directed. According to Mr. Son, this is not only a direction for Ho Chi Minh City in the immediate future, but also the development vision of a super-urban with competitiveness in the region in the coming decades.
Mr. Son said that before expanding administrative boundaries, Ho Chi Minh City had oriented development according to the multi-center urban model with the central area and satellite cities. After merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, this model was expanded into a multi-polar urban structure, in which Binh Duong is the growth pole in the North with strengths in high-tech industry, while the Can Gio - Ba Ria - Vung Tau area becomes the economic pole of the sea, seaport and tourism. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City has conditions to strengthen links with Dong Nai and Tay Ninh to form a closer regional development space.
According to Mr. Son, the public transport-oriented urban development model (TOD) is the key to redesigning Ho Chi Minh City's growth space. TOD is not simply urban development around metro stations but a multi-center urban space organization based on a large volume public transport system. Metro lines, railways, expressways, waterways and aviation will become the driving force for the formation of growth poles and new cities.
In particular, when Long Thanh airport is put into operation, Ho Chi Minh City will have the opportunity to expand its development space to Dong Nai. Although the airport is located in Dong Nai, most of the expected operating demand still comes from Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring urban areas. If connecting infrastructure is invested synchronously, this area will form a continuous urban space, contributing to population reduction, redistribution of economic activities and reducing pressure on the inner city area.
Mr. Son also said that expanding development space will help Ho Chi Minh City restructure the city in a more balanced direction. When traffic infrastructure and social infrastructure are invested synchronously, people will have more choices of housing and jobs in Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau or Can Gio - areas with large land funds, reasonable house prices and great development potential.
And Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Institute of Economics and Management of Ho Chi Minh City - assessed that the direction of General Secretary and President To Lam on innovating the growth model is a correct and timely direction, not only for Ho Chi Minh City but also suggesting a new development model for the whole country in the era of competition through knowledge, technology and innovation.
According to Mr. Thang, for many years, Ho Chi Minh City has mainly grown based on capital, land and labor. This model has created development momentum but is gradually reaching the threshold when land funds are narrowing, infrastructure is overloaded, production costs are increasing and labor productivity is improving slowly.
The shift to a growth model based on science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green economy, circular economy and data economy is a shift from broad development to in-depth, creating a foundation for Ho Chi Minh City to continue to maintain its leading economic role in the context of global competition" - Mr. Thang analyzed.
To realize this goal, according to Mr. Thang, Ho Chi Minh City needs to build an institutional ecosystem that is competitive internationally with a transparent investment environment, modern administrative procedures, and new policy testing mechanisms; and at the same time create conditions for private enterprises, technology enterprises, startups and young workers to promote innovation capacity.
When the private sector truly becomes a driving force for growth, science and technology are the foundation for development and the creativity of young people is unlocked, Ho Chi Minh City will not only maintain its role as the economic locomotive of the whole country but also have the opportunity to rise to become the leading innovation center in Southeast Asia" - Mr. Thang emphasized.
