The HCMC government will publish “The general construction planning scheme in HCMC up to 2025” in early November, said Huynh Xuan Thu, director of the Planning Information Center under the city’s Department of Zoning and Architecture.
The planning scheme is published almost two years after it was approved by the Prime Minister because it needs revision, improvement and information update to meet the reality.

In particular, the city must wait for advice on the traffic projects that will be rolled out during the planning period, along with the projects for urban railways and belt roads.

According to the recently completed scheme, the city’s area to be developed consists of the current 13 inner-city districts and six new ones, covering some 49,000 hectares. The new districts along with Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, Nha Be, Binh Chanh will be developed into industrial regions.

HCMC will construct several railways, including overhead railways and specialized ones from the national railway to Cat Lai and Hiep Phuoc ports. Besides, 19 bridges across the Dong Nai, Saigon, Nha Be, Long Tau and Thi Vai rivers, with one connecting Binh Quoi-Thanh Da and Hiep Binh Chanh, will be developed.

The planning also includes strict regulation on preservation and restoration of the ecology belonging to the Can Gio Mangrove Forest as well as the special-use and protective forests in Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts.

The scheme envisions the city’s population in 2025 at some 10 million people, with 7.4 million living in the downtown areas. The urban construction area would be 100,000 hectares, with four new urban areas namely Thu Thiem, Hiep Phuoc, North West and Hi-tech Park, covering some 737 hectares, 3,900 hectares, 6,000 hectares and 872 hectares respectively.

The development of HCMC up to 2025 is attached with that of neighboring urban areas in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Long An provinces.

The planning scheme also distributes sufficient land of some 9,000 hectares to construct 50 industrial zones, processing zones, hi-tech parks and industrial clusters.

The urban structure of HCMC in the future comprises the center districts like district 1,3,4,5 and Binh Thanh and the new areas in the outskirts like Thu Thiem and Saigon South.

As for the outlying districts, the river system and natural landscape must be preserved together with increasing the green space to protect the environment.

* The HCMC authority has asked relevant agencies not to give planning consents and construction permits until the consulting firm Nikken Sekkei Civil Engineering Ltd. completes the blueprint for downtown area.

From now on, the Department of Construction will stop offering planning approvals to projects which will be constructed in downtown areas, said Huynh Xuan Thu, director of Planning Information Center under the HCMC Department of Zoning and Architecture.

The downtown area under the planning project covers 930 hectares encompassing all District 1, two wards in District 3, the western bank of the Saigon River and the southern part of Ben Nghe Canal.

Nikken Sekkei in collaboration with the HCMC Department of Zoning and Architecture and relevant agencies will hasten the implementation of the architectural planning for the downtown area, according to Thu.

It is expected that the planning project will be completed and presented to the competent authorities by the end of next month.

SGT