DECISION

RATIFYING THE READJUSTED OVERALL PLANNING OF HO CHI MINH CITY TILL THE YEAR 2020

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;
At the joint proposal of the president of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the Minister of Construction in Official Dispatch No.1074/UB.TP-BXD of March 23, 1998,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To ratify the readjusted overall planning of Ho Chi Minh City till the year 2020 with the following main contents:

1. Objectives:

To readjust the overall planning of Ho Chi Minh City till the year 2020 in order to determine its special position and role in its relationship with the key southern areas, with the whole country and the international community as well; to attain the socio-economic development targets and accelerate the industrialization and modernization; to well combine construction and development with the maintenance of security and defense, as well as renovation with construction, so as to overcome irrationalities in the municipal architecture left over by history, and build Ho Chi Minh City into a modern city with national identity, an economic, international transaction and tourist center of the whole country, which also occupies an important political position in Southern Vietnam as well as among regional countries and the rest of the world.

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The planning study shall cover Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding towns in Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An, Tay Ninh and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces within a radius of from 30 to 50 km.

- The city's expansion direction shall be primarily to the Northeast, linking with Thuan An (Binh Duong) and Bien Hoa (Dong Nai), which is supplemented by its expansion to the South and Southeast toward the sea, linking with such areas as Nha Be, Binh Chanh, Hiep Phuoc and Can Gio and the new urban area of Nhon Trach- Long Thanh; and another supplementary direction to the North and Northwest, linking with Cu Chi, Hoc Mon, National Highway 22 and the Trans-Asia road to Tay Ninh and Cambodia.

- The city's center shall be expanded to cover also Thu Thiem so as to exploit the area's advantages regarding geographical location, natural conditions, land, technical infrastructure and environment.

3. Size of population:

By the year 2020 and further, the population of Ho Chi Minh City shall be around 10 million people with about 6 million living in the urban districts.

4. Planning on the use of land and architecture of urban landscapes:

a/ On the land use norm:

The average urban land use norm is 100 m2/person, including 20-22 m2/person for traffic, 10-15 m2/person for tree planting, and 5 m2/person for the construction of public-utility projects.

b/ On the arrangement of functional quarters:

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- The existing industrial zones shall be renovated, upgraded and re-arranged in line with the municipal construction planning; while a number of new industrial parks, export-processing zones and high-tech zones shall be developed in order to manufacture goods of high export value. In population quarters, small industrial plants with clean and high technologies may be arranged;

The land area reserved for the construction of industrial parks shall be around 6,000 ha.

- The system of the city's service centers shall be organized along the direction of polycentricity, including the administrative, historical, cultural, commercial and banking centers in districts 1, 3, 5 (Cho Lon), 10 and Binh Thanh (Gia Dinh) and shall be expanded toward district 2 (Thu Thiem) to cover an area of around 1,700 ha; other commercial, service, financial and banking centers shall be arranged in the A quarters- southern Sai Gon (district 7), along Hanoi road (district 9), An Suong crossroad (district 12 and Hoc Mon), linked to national highway 22 and Tan Kien (Binh Chanh district), linked to national highway 1A, with the land area of around 200 ha for each quarter.

Supportive to the city's service centers shall be the districts' centers arranged in association with population quarters.

- The specialized centers shall include:

+ The existing training, scientific research, medical and cultural centers, parks, physical education and sport centers, etc., which shall be renovated and upgraded in compatibility with the scope, characteristics and use requirements according to the municipal planning;

+ The Ho Chi Minh City National University, which shall be located in Thu Duc district on an area of about 800 ha, including 600 ha on the territory of Binh Duong province; and a number of areas for small-sized universities, vocational training centers and scientific research institutions to be arranged in southern Sai Gon (district 7), districts 9 and 12, the rural district of Hoc Mon and in the old urban districts, with a projected area of about 300 ha;

+ State management agencies, which shall be arranged in the municipal, district and/or ward centers. Head offices of foreign companies, organizations and representative offices shall be arranged along main thoroughfares;

+ The modern polyclinics and specialized hospitals, which shall be arranged in the peripheral, new and suburban districts;

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+ The national and municipal physical education and sport centers with a total area of 460 ha, which shall be arranged in Rach Chiec area (district 2);

Other physical education and sport centers shall be arranged evenly in urban and rural districts;

+ To protect, renovate and upgrade the existing parks, flower gardens, botanical gardens and water surface area; to build large reservoirs in Binh Chanh district, district 9, Thu Duc district and district 12, etc., and new suburban townships so as to regulate water drainage in combination with the control of the construction ground digging and leveling, to increase the open air and greenery areas, in combination with the construction of a number of resorts along Sai Gon and Dong Nai rivers and canals; to develop the urban greenery ensuring the average of 4m2/person in the old urban districts and 17m2/person in new urban districts and suburban areas.

To create a green belt for environmental protection and maintenance of the city's ecological balance limiting from belt 3 (Ben Luc, Duc Hoa (Long An), Cu Chi district town, Thu Dau Mot, Bien Hoa), to Vam Co, Soai Rap and Dong Nai rivers;

To preserve some 33,000 ha of saline submerged ecological forests in Can Gio district and other historical and protective forests in Cu Chi and Binh Chanh districts, in combination with green pastures along big communications axes towards the city's center and the corridor along Nha Be and Long Tau rivers... for protecting nature and maintaining the urban ecological balance;

+ The existing and newly-built defense and security establishments, which shall be rationally planned and arranged in accordance with the planning.

c/ On urban architecture and landscapes:

- The renovation of the old urban districts must ensure to preserve and embellish cultural and historical relics, as well as architectural works of high value; to renovate and upgrade infrastructure, remove houses on and along canals and arrange new residential quarters for people to improve their housing conditions, increase the greenery acreage and public-utility works; to restructure and allow the transfer of urban production establishments or allow the change of land use purposes in order to mobilize capital; to remove to suburban areas the industrial and/or handicraft establishments and warehouses that have caused environmental pollution, step by step improving ecological environment and protecting urban environment;

- The to-be-developed areas must be built along the direction of modernity, civilization and sustainability; to pay attention to the development of the system of trees, parks and water surfaces; to organize the new urban areas with modern and uniform infrastructure, raising the average high of stories, fully exploiting the underground and airspace, lowering the construction density, and sparing land for open spaces; to build production areas, trade, service, training and scientific research centers, rest and recreation centers to meet the people's increasing material and spiritual demands.

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a/ On communications and transport:

+ Priority must be given to the synchronous development of the communications and transport infrastructure together with other technical infrastructure projects aiming to effectively serve the city's socio-economic, security and defense activities;

+ The land area for the construction of communications and transport infrastructure system, including motion and non-motion traffic systems, must make up 25% of the urban land fund on average;

+ The development of the municipal communications and transport must focus on the development of the mass transit system which shall attract 30% of the total commuters by the year 2010, and 50% by the year 2020.

- On the land road:

+ To complete the construction of the city's traffic belt network and outbound communications axis, together with traffic hubs, junctions and inter-provincial car terminals in the peripheral areas, including the outermost belt (belt motorways), the expressway to be built linking Thu Thiem with national highway 51 (Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau), Hanoi road, the old national highway 1A and the new national highway 1A to Bien Hoa and western provinces, national highways 13, 22 to Binh Duong and Tay Ninh, provincial highways 12, 15 and 16 linking the urban and suburban districts with the satellite provinces, provincial highways 10 and 50 to Duc Hoa and Can Giuoc (Long An), Vinh Phuoc road to Hiep Phuoc industrial zone and to Can Gio, linking with belt roads and suburban road axis;

+ To build, renovate, broaden and upgrade the existing major urban traffic roads, including bridges, while broadening and building important traffic junctions and signal system, linking junctions with the traffic control center of the whole city; to evenly arrange the system of car parks, bus stops and terminals so as to ensure the average distance of 500 to 600 m from functional quarters to the car parks and bus stops on the public transportation lines.

+ To build a complete and modern road system in newly-developed quarters in synchronous combination with other technical infrastructure projects.

+ To renovate, upgrade and broaden: Sai Gon, Dong Nai (Small Dong Nai and Big Dong Nai) bridges; Binh Loi, Binh Trieu, Binh Phuoc and Phu Long bridges (linking district 12 to Lai Thieu); Phu Cuong bridge (linking Cu Chi to Thu Dau Mot) and a number of other bridges;

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- On the railways:

+ To build the municipal railway system, linking with the national railway system heading to Loc Ninh, the Western and Central regions and Ba Ria- Vung Tau province;

+ To prepare investment and construction of the urban railway traffic system underground (subways), in the air or on land, which must, however, ensure technical requirements, traffic safety, financial feasibility as well as the combination with security and defense;

+ To build major railway stations in An Binh (Binh Duong) and a number of central stations for passenger trains in Binh Trieu (Thu Duc), Tan Kien (Binh Chanh) and Thu Thiem (district 2), etc. The Hoa Hung station shall be transformed into the inner city's railway station.

- On water ways:

+ To restrict the expansion and development of sea ports in the old urban area, such as Sai Gon, Ben Nghe, Tan Thuan, Tan Cang and Ba Son ports;

+ To make planning on the construction of new seaports of Hiep Phuoc and Can Gio in order to meet the municipal and regional sea and river transport demand, step by step renovate urban ports for river leisure tours;

The total capacity of the city's ports is expected to reach 60 - 70 million tons/year;

+ To enhance the exploitation of water transport lines on Soai Rap, Cay Kho and Can Giuoc rivers; to build new river ports in Phu Dinh, Cay Kho, Tan Tuc and Can Giuoc with the capacity of above 10 million tons/year; to maintain a number of small river ports on Dong Nai and Nha Be... rivers, etc, in the 2005-2010 period; to step by step remove Binh Dong port and the system of yards along the ports to the new port sites; to renovate and restore belt canals in order to serve the public transportation on one hand and settle the water drainage for the city on the other;

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- On aviation:

+ To improve and upgrade Tan Son Nhat international airport to enable it achieve a capacity of 10 - 12 million passengers/year.

+ To build a new international airport in Long Thanh (Dong Nai) with a capacity of 20 - 30 million passengers/year.

b/ On land-based technical preparation:

- To renovate and build a rain water drainage systems in the old inner city area where the common system of sewers for rain and waste water drainage continues to be used; and in the newly-developed areas where systems of underground drains are used separately for drainage of rain water and waste water, in combination with the existing open water drainage system including rivers, canals and reservoirs;

- To renovate and build a system of water-regulating lakes in combination with the creation of landscapes and the balance between regional diggings and fill-ups of construction grounds of urban quarters and industrial zones;

- To build roads along rivers and canals in urban quarters, in combination with the embankment and bordering thereof and planting of trees.

c/ On water supply:

- The demand for water supply shall be 2,800,000 m3/day and night by the year 2010 and 3,635,000 m3/day and night by the year 2020;

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- To rationally tap surface water sources from Dong Nai and Sai Gon rivers and Dong (Eastern) Cu Chi canal, in combination with the exploitation of underground water in Hoc Mon and Binh Hung (Binh Chanh) areas at a limited level;

- To renovate the old water pipe system and build a new one in order to complete the water pipe networks in the old urban districts and the newly-developed ones.

d/ On power supply:

- The city's power supply sources shall be balanced on the national grid;

- To renovate and build 500 KV, 220 KV, 110 KV and 22 KV transmission lines and transformer stations, ensuring their modernity, good-looking and safe use;

- To renovate and upgrade the 500 KV of Phu Lam station and build new 500 KV stations in Nha Be, Cat Lai (district 2) and Binh Chieu (Thu Duc district).

- To ensure the compliance with the overall power development plan throughout different stages.

e/ On the waste water drainage and urban hygiene:

- To step by step lessen the canals' pollution through partial treatment of waste matters; to renovate canals and raise their draining capacity, making them clean by themselves;

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- To build, in the future, waste water treatment plants, largely in Nha Be, Vinh Loc, Can Giuoc, Cat Lai and other appropriate locations;

- To renovate and build the garbage burial sites in Dong Thanh and Go Cat and garbage treatment yards in Da Phuoc and Vinh Loc so as to ensure that by the year 2020 100% of the city's garbage will be gathered and treated with modern technology;

- To continue using the existing graveyards, not to expand Binh Hung Hoa and other graveyards in the new districts; to build two new graveyards in Da Phuoc (Binh Chanh) and Nhon Duc (Nha Be);

- To renovate and build two crematories and about 30-40 incinerators in Binh Hung Hoa and other appropriate locations.

Article 2.- The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee shall coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and the concerned ministries and branches in organizing the implementation of the Prime Minister's decision on the readjustment of the Ho Chi Minh City's overall planning till the year 2020. More concretely:

1. To ratify the dossier on readjustment of the overall planning of Ho Chi Minh City till the year 2020 after consulting the Ministry of Construction;

2. To publicize the city's readjusted overall planning till the year 2020 so that people know, inspect and implement it;

3. To draw up annual and long-term plans for the implementation of the planning on the renovation and construction of the city.

Article 3.-

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The Steering Board shall coordinate with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and the People's Committees of the relevant provinces in organizing the implementation of the ratified planning.

2. The Steering Board for the Planning and Construction of Ho Chi Minh City shall have an assisting apparatus, which is headquartered at the office of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and operates according to the Regulation decided by the Board's Head.

Article 4.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

The president of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee; the ministers, heads of the ministerial-level agencies; heads of the agencies attached to the Government; and presidents of the People's Committees of the relevant provinces and cities shall have to implement this Decision.

THE PRIME MINISTER OF GOVERNMENT




Phan Van Khai