Hanoi to establish satellite cities for stronger development

Hanoi is looking to develop satellite urban areas to ease overcrowding in inner-city areas and support balanced development between the city center and suburbs.

The move aims to accelerate overspilling from the crowded city, reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and enhance a balanced development between the city center and suburbs, contributing to promoting Hanoi’s industrialization and linkages with regional provinces.

In its development plan until 2030, with a vision towards 2050, Hanoi has plans to form five satellite cities, or satellite urban areas, in Dong Anh, Me Linh, and Soc Son in the north, together with Hoa Lac and Xuan Mai in the west, Hanoi vice chairman Duong Duc Tuan told a metropolis development conference Monday.

He said Hanoi authorities have made adjustments to the development plan as regulated, and the directions of the adjustments were in line with Resolution 06 dated January 24, 2022 of Vietnam’s Politburo on the sustainable development of the country’s urban areas until 2030, with vision until 2045, and the Politburo's Resolution 15 dated May 5, 2022 on Hanoi’s development until 2030, with vision until 2045.

Planning adjustments also aim to strictly manage the development of high-rise buildings downtown; give priority to the development of small towns and peri-urban areas to support rural development through urban-rural linkages; invest in the development of urban areas with heritage value and potential to boost tourism, Tuan said.

In southern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City authorities on December 31, 2020 passed a resolution to establish Thu Duc city, and implementation started in July 2021.

Thu Duc city on Ho Chi Minh City’s outskirts, comprised of districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc, became Vietnam’s first city under the jurisdiction of a centrally-run city.

Vietnam currently hosts five centrally-run cities namely Hanoi, Hai Phong (north), Danang (central region), HCMC, and Can Tho (south).