Hai Phong expands planning space, towards modern megacity

After the merger, Hai Phong city is oriented to become a green, civilized, modern, livable urban area with a high level of development among the leading cities in Asia and the world.

City view from above. Photo: PHAN TUAN

Important strategic location

Hai Phong city holds an important strategic position, rugged terrain, and is the gateway to Dai La - Thang Long. In the history of building and defending the country of the Vietnamese people, Vietnamese dynasties had glorious victories against the invasion of Northern empires on Hai Phong land, such as the victory on Bach Dang river in 938 by Ngo Quyen; the Bach Dang battle in 981 by Le Hoan and the Bach Dang battle in 1288 by Tran Hung Dao...

In 1527, the Mac Dynasty was born, choosing the Van Uc estuary to establish Duong Kinh, turning Hai Phong into a springboard to implement strategies to build and protect the country with a new vision towards the sea. In 1888, with the Decree establishing the Hai Phong City Council by the Governor-General of Indochina, Hai Phong officially became a Port City and one of the three leading cities in Indochina.

However, Hai Phong before 1945 under French colonial rule had a slow urbanization rate. The urban appearance of Hai Phong had almost no significant changes compared to the previous period. The resistance war against French colonialism was victorious, the country entered a new period with new opportunities.

Due to the strategic location of Hai Phong, at the request of the City Party Committee and the City Administrative Committee, the Prime Minister issued Decree No. 913, dated June 5, 1956, merging Cat Hai district and Cat Ba district of Quang Ninh province, Do Son of Kien An into Hai Phong. In early 1957, Bach Long Vi island was assigned by the Central Government to Hai Phong for management. The boundary was expanded, the port city of Hai Phong played a very important role and position in the socio -economic development, international trade and national defense and security of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Hai Phong and Kien An are important economic, security and defense areas of the North and the whole country. Based on the study of practical requirements, on September 21, 1962, the Party Central Committee unanimously agreed to the policy of merging Hai Phong and Kien An. On January 1, 1963, the merging ceremony of Hai Phong city and Kien An province was solemnly held.

After the merger of Hai Phong and Kien An, although it went through many ups and downs, during this period 1996 - 2000, urban management, planning, and infrastructure development have made remarkable progress. The goal of Hai Phong urban development is to accelerate the process of building Hai Phong into a civilized, modern port city, an industrial - tourism - service center, and the main gateway to the sea. Kien An district was newly established, expanded, and renovated. In suburban districts, the urbanization rate is quite fast. Thuy Nguyen, Kien Thuy, Tien Lang, Vinh Bao districts, and Do Son town have been expanded and built spaciously...

City view from above. Photo: PHAN TUAN

Multipolar model

In the first 24 years of the 21st century (2001-2025), Hai Phong has developed strongly and made remarkable breakthroughs in planning. In 2025, after the merger, Hai Phong city and Hai Duong province have many potentials, advantages, and opportunities to expand space, develop into a megacity with an area of ​​about 3,194.7 km2 and a population of nearly 4.7 million people. Hai Phong has more space for development, expanding the urban - industrial - logistics - high-tech agricultural area, while integrating more resources in terms of labor, infrastructure and geographical location to form a new growth pole in the Northern region.

In response to major policy changes from the Central Government on national marine economic development, Hai Phong has been proactive in long-term planning, modernizing the seaport and connecting transport system, developing coastal economic zones and attracting many strategic investment projects. In the planning until 2050, Hai Phong emphasizes the development of marine economic sectors, including seaports, marine tourism, renewable energy and new marine economic sectors.

According to comrade Chu Ngoc Ha, Director of the Hai Phong City Planning Institute: “If in the past, Hai Phong only had one core, which was the existing urban area, now it has shifted to a multi-polar model, expanding urban space, development space, creating momentum for districts and towns to grow economically and urbanize together. The new model also meets the population growth rate, aiming towards the criteria of a special urban area. This will be an important foundation to help Hai Phong realize its aspiration to reach out to the sea in a proactive, effective and sustainable way towards a modern megacity of global stature.”

To realize that, the task of building the new Hai Phong City Master Plan after the merger is identified as a key task. The city will continue to inherit the approved plans, while prioritizing the development roadmap for the new city Master Plan, in line with the development orientation after the merger. Comrade Tran Cao Nguyen, Deputy Head of the Planning and Architecture Department, Department of Construction, said that in the period of 2025 - 2026, the city will review the current status, integrate data from existing plans, determine the vision and spatial orientation to establish the master plan task to submit to the Prime Minister for approval.

In the 2026 - 2027 period, the city will conduct planning, survey, build plans, collect opinions from relevant parties and complete them for submission to the Prime Minister for approval, ensuring "planning goes first, projects follow", maintaining continuous development momentum, and making stronger breakthroughs.

AN PHUC

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/hai-phong-mo-rong-khong-giant-quy-hoach-huong-toi-sieu-do-thi-hien-dai-519042.html