The formation of a coastal corridor, the development of logistics, tourism, and seaports are among the four key driving forces of Ho Chi Minh City identified in the draft Political Report of the First Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025-2030. In this context, Can Gio will play a crucial role as a springboard for the city's development towards the sea, from the reclaimed land urban area to the Ho Tram - Binh Chau region.
Speaking to Dan Tri newspaper, experts said that Ho Chi Minh City's current geoeconomic position fully supports its development in this direction. In the new phase, the former Can Gio and Ba Ria - Vung Tau areas will play an important role in helping Ho Chi Minh City become a center for trade, services, and maritime economy.
"If the opportunity to become a crucial hub in the international maritime route is seized, the potential and advantages that Can Gio can bring to Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country are enormous," Professor Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ), observed.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of international and domestic tourists visiting Ba Ria - Vung Tau has gradually increased year by year. Of the 127.5 million tourists nationwide in 2024, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province welcomed 16.2 million visitors, making a significant contribution to Vietnam's tourism industry.
In terms of logistics and seaports, the figures also demonstrate Ba Ria - Vung Tau's strategic position nationwide. Of the total 864.4 million tons of goods circulating through Vietnam's seaport systems, the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster handled more than 138.2 million tons.
According to Professor Dang Hung Vo, after the administrative reorganization and merger of provinces and cities, Ho Chi Minh City inherited significant advantages in terms of potential for developing the marine economy, logistics, and maritime activities. In particular, the Can Gio area serves as a "gateway" for Ho Chi Minh City to gradually develop into a city focused on commerce, services, finance, science and technology, and education and training.
“Looking out to sea from Ho Chi Minh City, to the right is the Mekong Delta rice granary – a vast agricultural region, and to the left is the former Ba Ria - Vung Tau region, a promising area for industrial and service development. Can Gio is situated between these two development directions,” Professor Dang Hung Vo analyzed.
On an international level, the Can Gio area of Ho Chi Minh City in particular, and the entire coastal area of Ho Chi Minh City in general, lies on the Indo-Pacific shipping route. This is a rare area on the world map that is part of a shipping route with high trade density, yet remains relatively peaceful.
For the reasons above, Professor Dang Hung Vo believes that if the opportunity to become an important junction in the international maritime route is seized, the potential and advantages that Can Gio can bring to Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country are enormous. However, according to him, the aforementioned geo-economic advantages of Ho Chi Minh City have not been fully utilized in the past and need a clear transformation in the coming period.
“Ho Chi Minh City can absolutely build a model city like New York (USA) or Shanghai (China) , cities that developed by reaching out to the sea and expanding their international economic space. I expect more significant changes, in line with the concept of Ho Chi Minh City reaching out to the sea,” Professor Dang Hung Vo shared.
According to the expert, the development of Can Gio requires a comprehensive master plan with a vision and regional development mindset. In reality, the Can Gio area of Ho Chi Minh City is only a small part of a larger bay area, stretching from the Ba Ria - Vung Tau region down to Tien Giang (now Dong Thap province).
Recently, investors proposed building a high-speed railway line from the center of Ho Chi Minh City to Can Gio, reducing travel time to approximately 12 minutes, instead of the current 2 hours. In the future, when major projects such as the Can Gio Bridge, the sea bridge connecting Ba Ria - Vung Tau, and the metro line connecting the center of Ho Chi Minh City and Can Gio are completed, shortening travel time, Can Gio could become a strategic transit point and a new experiential destination for tourists exploring the southern coastal region.
Located between the heart of Ho Chi Minh City and the famous tourist complexes of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ho Tram, Binh Chau, Can Gio is expected to become the first stop for tourists traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to the coast, serving as a bridge between the country's largest city and the Southeast coastal region, creating a sustainable tourism and marine economic value chain.
“Ho Chi Minh City's development is not just for Ho Chi Minh City itself, but also for the whole country; the development orientation of Can Gio should not only serve the development of Ho Chi Minh City but also be considered within the context of regional development. The entire large bay area has a favorable geographical location and strengths in terms of land and landscape to develop a model coastal urban area for the entire region and internationally. However, this development mindset must be accompanied by careful solutions regarding the environment and planning,” Professor Dang Hung Vo commented.
"The gateway welcoming the world to Vietnam" is the image that Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, a member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council, used when discussing Ho Chi Minh City's advantages in terms of its coastal space. With a series of large projects in Can Gio and the potential of the Ba Ria - Vung Tau region, Ho Chi Minh City is well-positioned to open up new development spaces in a context where existing spaces are limited.
"Ho Chi Minh City needs to consider a different approach to development, opening up new dimensions to create opportunities for growth. The city is still developing mainly on land, while the sky, sea, underground, digital space, and cultural space have virtually no significant development," Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien commented.
According to the expert, Ho Chi Minh City currently possesses a unique advantage over other localities: the Cai Mep - Thi Vai International Transshipment Port, and soon the Can Gio International Transshipment Port. If Ho Chi Minh City can effectively utilize this advantage, reshape its development space, and become a strategic hub on the world maritime map, enormous resources will be generated for industry, urban development, and logistics.
Associate Professor Tran Dinh Thien also believes that it is time for Ho Chi Minh City to consider developing a low-level spatial economy. This is something that major cities around the world have been discussing recently.
"Even cities that aren't yet megacities are already considering developing the economy in low-level spaces, opening up new development opportunities from the sky with drones, flying taxis, etc. Why hasn't Ho Chi Minh City considered this, while ground space is becoming increasingly congested?" Mr. Tran Dinh Thien questioned.
According to experts, the low-level space economy will bring about a breakthrough development effect, creating new types of products and new ways of communication. More importantly, Ho Chi Minh City can be an early adopter in forming an industry to manufacture vehicles serving the low-level space economy, a market that will increasingly expand internationally.
"Ho Chi Minh City needs to boldly approach things from that perspective. The city is a land of pioneering and conquering culture. If this culture is applied to the development of science and technology, Ho Chi Minh City will attract more international knowledge, creating a flourishing scientific sector for the whole country," Mr. Tran Dinh Thien commented.
Restructuring the development space to find new driving forces is one of the city’s key tasks in the coming period. In particular, Can Gio is oriented as a strategic location of the city to form large projects and works.
Ho Chi Minh City will develop a smart port and logistics cluster in Cai Mep - Thi Vai - Can Gio based on a digital mega-port model and an integrated logistics system powered by big data. Large-scale integrated trade complexes (megatrades) connected to free trade zones will be formed to promote import and export activities, logistics, and modern warehousing services, linked to the organization of international exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences.
Besides the Can Gio International Port, the locality is also accelerating the progress of the reclaimed land urban area project, the urban railway line connecting the center of Ho Chi Minh City - Can Gio, the Can Gio bridge, and other supporting works.
In the future, Ho Chi Minh City's coastal corridor will be planned and receive focused investment to become a multi-functional integrated development zone encompassing seaports, industry, urban areas, tourism, and ecological conservation. The city also aims for harmonious development between rural and urban areas following the "village within the city, city within the village" model, linked to the orientations of "leaning against the mountains, preserving the forests" and "clinging to the river, facing the sea".
Content: Q. Huy
Photos: Trinh Nguyen, Phuoc Tuan
October 14, 2025 - 3:15 PM
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/hien-thuc-hoa-khat-vong-tphcm-vuon-ra-bien-20251011144453261.htm
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