National Assembly deputies, discussing the draft law on capital city, emphasized the urban government organization.

Hanoi plans to develop four dependent cities in the north, west, south and Son Tay – Ba Vi City.

The city in the north of Hanoi will cover the suburban districts of Dong Anh, MeLinh and Soc Son. It is expected to have a total area of 633 square kilometers and population of 3.25 million by 2045, and have 45 wards and 24 communes.

The urban land area of the city in the north is 385 square kilometers and the population  2.92 million. 

The Noi Bai International Airport will be the nucleus of the city in the north which will be a financial service, industrial production and hi-tech center.

The city in the west will have Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and Xuan Mai Town as the central area. It is expected to cover an area of 251 square kilometers and have a population of 1.2 million in 16 wards and eight communes.

It will be positioned as a center for science research, training and high technology transfer, and home of hi-tech products, semiconductor products, software and AI.

Meanwhile, the city in the south will be developed from the current Phu Xuyen and Ung Hoa districts.

In addition, a tourism city will take shape in the Son Tay – Ba Vi area.

The formation of a city in the south aims at developing a transport center with airways, railways (the national railways, the North-South Expressway, urban railways), waterways (Red River) and highways (Phap Van – Cau Gie, 5B Highway - Northwest).

Special cities

When discussing the draft law, experts stressed that the cities belonging to Hanoi should be considered as special areas with specific mechanisms. The urban government model with specific regimes has been put into discussion.

Some experts think the new urban government model designed by Hanoi cannot legalize the building of a satellite city belonging to the capital city, while regulations in the draft law are not specific enough to promote the role of the new urban government model.

Some National Assembly deputies have asked if the tasks and rights of a satellite city belonging to another city are equal to that of district-level government.

There has been no detailed plan on the growth development of cities of this kind.

Tran Thuong