Tomorrow (April 29), Ho Chi Minh City will start construction of the Central Square and New Administrative - Political Center project in Thu Thiem.
After merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City became a special urban area with a scale of 168 commune-level administrative units, an area of 6,772 km2 and a population of nearly 14 million people.
Currently, more than 8,000 officials, civil servants, and public employees are working scattered at many different headquarters, many places have deteriorated and no longer meet the requirements.
In addition, central public spaces such as Nguyen Hue street, although playing the role of urban squares, have not been optimally designed, and are still limited in terms of space organization, traffic and commercial services.
Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee believes that investing in a centralized administrative center with modern facilities in the core area of Thu Thiem New Urban Area, combined with synchronous works such as the Conference - Performance Center and Central Square to be worthy of a megacity in the current context is necessary.
The project has a total area of about 46.72 ha, invested by Saigon Sun Investment and Development Co., Ltd. in the form of public-private partnership (PPP), construction - transfer (BT) contract. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2028.
In which, the administrative - political center is planned with a total floor area of about 272,000 m2, meeting the working needs of about 8,000 officials and civil servants, and serving from 1,500 - 2,000 people and businesses every day through the modern "one-stop shop" system.
The project also integrates a conference - performance center with a scale of about 2,000 seats, serving major political, economic, and cultural events.
Central Square has a capacity of about 268,000 people for political events and can reach 500,000 people when hosting cultural festivals.
Along with that are scenic parks, central lake and symbolic works such as the Unification Monument, fountain, stands...
According to Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Institute of Economics and Management of Ho Chi Minh City, the existing central area is overloaded in terms of population and infrastructure, no longer suitable to take on the role of administrative center of a megacity.
The relocation of the Administrative Center to Thu Thiem not only helps reduce pressure on the central area, but also creates motivation for infrastructure development, transportation and investment attraction, especially in the context of the formation of new growth poles of the city.
Dr., architect Ngo Viet Nam Son said that this is a long-term strategic decision. Thu Thiem has the advantage of a large land fund, favorable for concentrating the entire administrative apparatus from the City Party Committee, People's Council to the People's Committee and departments and branches.
According to Mr. Son, concentrating the administrative apparatus in Thu Thiem will help improve coordination efficiency, especially for large-scale inter-regional projects such as Long Thanh airport urban area, Cai Mep Ha free trade area, TOD urban areas along the metro or the Thi Vai - Cai Mep - Can Gio port urban chain.
The administrative center needs to be developed synchronously with the International Financial Center and the Culture - Entertainment Center in Thu Thiem, forming a set of three pillars for modern urban development.
It is necessary to closely link with the Administrative Center and the multimodal transportation system of Thu Thiem, including metro, buses and regional connection points. This will create a complete urban structure, increase competitiveness and accelerate the process of realizing Thu Thiem New Urban Area.
