HCMC set to become Southeast Asia’s global megacity: Party leader

Ho Chi Minh City will become "a global megacity of Southeast Asia" after its meger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, said Vietnam’s Party chief To Lam.

The new city will be an innovative, green and smart urban center, the top leader told key Party leaders of the three localities on Wednesday.

"The merger of HCMC with Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Binh Duong marks an unprecedented pivotal transformation in Vietnam's urban development history. This is a comprehensive reconfiguration of development space, where the country's three most dynamic economic poles converge to form a megacity of finance, industry and seaports," he emphasized.

Currently, HCMC, Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau are all industrial centers in southern Vietnam.

The new HCMC is also expected to become a regional-scale marine tourism, high-tech industrial, logistics, commercial and financial hub.

Its development will be based on digital technology, a green economy, environmental sustainability, and a harmonious, cohesive, open and civilized society, embodying the advanced values of Asia and the world.

It must strive to become an attractive destination for talents, innovators and entrepreneurs, and a favorable environment for startups, incubating new trends and advanced models, Lam noted.

“The new city will not only be a national economic locomotive but also a modern city with influence in the network of global cities,” the Party chief stressed.

Lam emphasized the development of an international financial center in Thu Thiem to attract global capital, helping to position Vietnam on the global financial map.

The city was asked to develop a chain of smart cities connecting HCMC-Di An-Thuan An-Thu Dau Mot-Ben Cat-Phu My-Ba Ria-Vung Tau; an innovation corridor stretching from the East HCMC Creative Urban Area (Thu Duc) to industrial-service-seaport poles like Di An, Ben Cat, Phu My, Ba Ria and Vung Tau; a smart port-logistics cluster at Cai Mep-Thi Vai-Can Gio following a digital super-port model and an integrated logistics system, operated by big data.

A high-end eco-tourism-resort center should be formed in Vung Tau-Can Gio, becoming a green, smart international destination that combines conservation with development, he added.

Each development pole, from Thu Thiem, Thu Duc to Di An, Ben Cat, Phu My, Ba Ria and Vung Tau, must be planned as an organic link, complementing each other's functions; intelligently connected; and flexibly coordinated, he added.