Based on existing foundations and strategic orientations, focusing on synchronously building these pillars will help Ho Chi Minh City realize its aspiration to become a super city, meeting the expectations of developing Ho Chi Minh City in the spirit of Resolution 31 of the Politburo .
Integrating growth poles
The merger of three localities has opened up new opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to transform itself into a smart, dynamic megacity of continental stature. To take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate development, Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue to maintain its pioneering spirit, innovate and take decisive action, both quickly overcoming limitations and synchronously implementing development strategies in line with Resolution 31.
The combination of growth poles of three localities, now Ho Chi Minh City, not only increases the scale but more importantly, restructures the way the economy of a megacity operates: industry, trade, services, finance and logistics are linked in an interconnected space, without administrative boundaries.
With the solid socio-economic foundation from the 2020-2025 term of the three localities and the attention and support of the Central Government, Ho Chi Minh City is facing a historic opportunity to reach a new level of development, aiming to become a global city, playing the role of a "locomotive" to bring the whole country into a new era of prosperity and deep international integration.
To realize that vision, experts say the deep connection between Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau has created an economic triangle that includes all the elements from financial services, high-tech industrial production to logistics and seaports - the foundation for the new megacity to break through. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City quickly deploys key inter-regional infrastructure projects.
In addition to the North-South high-speed railway and urban railway lines under development, it is necessary to invest early in railway lines connecting directly to major port clusters (such as the Can Gio - Cai Mep - Thi Vai transit port axis) and connecting industrial zones in Dong Nai and Binh Duong in the past. Accelerating these projects will create a "great driving force" for the socio-economic development of the new Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the whole country in general in the following years.
The megacity of Ho Chi Minh City is not simply an expansion of administrative boundaries, but is essentially a highly integrated economic entity, competitive enough and directly integrated with major economic centers in the world such as Seoul (Korea), Tokyo (Japan) or Shanghai (China)... Therefore, when the development space becomes larger, there must be very clear specialization between growth poles.
From this perspective, Professor Hoang Van Cuong (National Assembly delegate, member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council) analyzed that when integrating the Binh Duong industrial zone with the Ba Ria - Vung Tau seaport gateway into the service - financial axis of Ho Chi Minh City, the city can clearly assign logistics roles between international and inter-regional connections, reduce investment duplication and supply chain costs; tourism is also upgraded into a "city - island destination" chain with high added value.
From a planning perspective, Architect Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Development Planning Association, pointed out that the post-merger space is huge thanks to the long coastline and large land fund that helps Ho Chi Minh City address the "weaknesses" of the central urban area, which are the lack of deep-water ports and space for sea tourism. The important thing is to close the loop between "hard connections" (highways, railways, ports, airports) and "soft connections" (data, open institutions, regional coordination mechanisms). Ho Chi Minh City is not only a place where resources converge but also becomes an integrated growth pole of the entire Southeast region.
New growth engine
If the development space is the "shape" of the megacity, then science and technology, innovation and digital transformation are the foundation and new growth engine, determining the speed and quality of growth of Ho Chi Minh City in the future. From previous terms and especially the 2020-2025 term, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has directed the solid construction of a relatively complete science and technology ecosystem, innovation and digital transformation, ready to meet the development of Ho Chi Minh City's digital economy in the near future.
On that basis, Ho Chi Minh City has "packaged" a set of policy tools to accelerate non-refundable funding support for startup projects; incentives beyond the framework to attract and retain science and technology talents in the public sector; tax exemption for innovative startups; sandbox mechanism for new technology at the High-Tech Park, Quang Trung Software Park... When projecting these tools onto the scale of a unified megacity, Ho Chi Minh City can open a sandbox in a chain, from port-airport logistics, smart transportation to digital healthcare...
In particular, Ho Chi Minh City will be a place to gather and attract international capital flows through the International Financial Center. This center is considered a "transformer" of capital flows, creating the ability to mobilize and allocate global resources for large-scale strategic infrastructure projects of the country and the city.
Dr. Can Van Luc, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group, said that the four goals for the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City are to promote regional growth; mobilize and allocate resources effectively; improve the quality of traditional services and develop new services; and contribute to institutional improvement. The Center should maintain its core areas (banking, insurance, securities) and expand international capital mobilization, derivatives, commodity - gold - carbon - digital asset trading floors. To do so, it is necessary to quickly identify strategic investors, design a modern governance model and provide incentives that are attractive enough to attract talent, along with an information technology platform that operates 24/7 like a "financial city that never sleeps".
Associate Professor Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan, former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies, emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City has entered the rankings of global financial centers, qualified to "jump" to the regional level. Not only that, the city has proactively designed a policy "toolkit" to accelerate the innovation process. These tools need to be "upgraded" to the scale of a unified urban area when Ho Chi Minh City expands: expanding the sandbox scope to new areas such as port-airport logistics, urban data - smart transportation, digital healthcare....
It can be seen that development pillars need to be placed in an open institutional framework for effective operation. Ho Chi Minh City has had important premises from Resolution 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly, with breakthrough policies on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation, from salary incentives and benefits for leaders of institutes and research centers to research and development support for businesses, tax exemption for startups and sandbox mechanisms for testing new technologies.
In the coming term, the requirement is to expand the application of these policies in the unified urban space, and at the same time design a regional coordination mechanism according to the "one axis - three wings" model between the central urban area - industrial strip - seaport gateway.
Mr. LAM DINH THANG , Director of Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City:
Aim to become the region's strategic technology hub
Currently, in addition to the tasks that the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City is implementing, the city is urgently reviewing, proposing and promulgating mechanisms and policies for science and technology development, innovation and digital transformation to achieve the target of spending 3% of the budget on these fields by 2030.
The city will form an International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City; 4 high-tech centers (AI-data-semiconductor, healthcare, education, CNC industry) and strategic infrastructure (transportation - digital infrastructure). Ho Chi Minh City will also form an AI Super Data Center, a National Data Center, an expanded High-Tech Park, and an Innovation Center that meets international standards.
Dr. Truong Minh Huy Vu, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies:
Review laws and decrees to ensure consistency
In order for the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City to operate in accordance with expectations, the city must soon review and amend relevant laws and decrees to ensure consistency and avoid overlaps during implementation. In addition to ensuring technical infrastructure, the accompanying service infrastructure in the center must operate 24/24, becoming a "city that never sleeps". In addition, the traffic infrastructure connecting the airport and seaport must be convenient for strategic investors.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. TRAN THANH NAM, Vice Rector of University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi:
Building a team that dares to innovate for the common good
The team of officials and civil servants of Ho Chi Minh City must be selected and evaluated based on digital capacity, innovative thinking and public service ethics; have the ability to exploit big data and operate integrated platforms - smart connections between fields (transportation, environment, education, health ...), make decisions based on data; and at the same time work in a comprehensive digital environment.
In addition to moral qualities and dedication, they must be pioneers in practicing digital analytical thinking and creative thinking, daring to think, daring to do, daring to innovate for the common good. This team must continuously learn throughout life to adapt to all technological trends, capable of leading the comprehensive digital transformation process.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/dau-an-mot-nhiem-ky-niem-tin-cho-chang-duong-moi-bai-4-nen-tang-phat-trien-sieu-do-thi-vuon-tam-khu-vuc-post814566.html
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