According to the Deputy Head of Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Nguyen Duc Hien, 41 out of 63 centrally run cities/provinces have been building plans on developing smart cities. Nearly 40 of the cities/provinces have been developing smart city services, while 17 cities/provinces have started building or have agreed on the building of smart city operating centers.

Seventeen provinces have started smart tourism service applications, and more than 10 provinces use apps on smart traffic and urban orders and security. 

There are also apps in other fields, such as smart education and smart healthcare. The capital from different sources in society and preferential loans used to implement smart city projects account for 50-90 percent.

On January 24, 2022, the Politburo issued Resolution 06 on the planning, management and sustainable development of Vietnam’s urban areas by 2030 with the vision until 2045. 

Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Nguyen Thanh Phong said the resolution emphasizes the task of accelerating digital transformation in urban management, building electronic government, and striving for digital government in cities with close association with smart city development.

Fifty-five out of 63 localities have issued resolutions/directives/documents from municipal and provincial Party Committees about digital transformation. 

Meanwhile, 59 out of 63 localities have launched programs/plans/projects on digital transformation for five years. The provincial indexes are defined based on the digital transformation level on three pillars – digital government, digital economy and digital society, with the average point of 0.3 on a 1.0 grading scale. 

Of the three pillars, the pillar of digital government has higher average point than digital economy and digital society thanks to the results of the e-government development process.

Studies and practice show that in order to form smart cities, it is necessary to carry out digital transformation comprehensively in all fields, with focus on urban management.

According to Hien, Vietnam has just begun applying smart city services, while the content about smart urban planning and smart urban construction management has not been given much attention. There are still few smart city projects that have a comprehensive approach with the goal of not only solving urgent problems of cities, but also striving for socio-economic development.

Nguyen Hoang Minh from the Architecture University commented that smart cities include smart urban planning, smart economy, smart transport, smart energy, smart urbanites, smart community, smart urban management and digital society. Of these, planning is the pillar in the development of smart cities in Vietnam.

Duy Anh