Improving institutions paves the way for Ho Chi Minh City's breakthrough.

Ho Chi Minh City is urgently implementing important tasks for the 2025-2030 period, with a vision for a new era for the city after the merger, aspiring to rapid and sustainable development, reaching regional prominence and deep international integration.

Previously, from July 1st, Ho Chi Minh City became a megacity of the country, creating an urgent need for a commensurate institutional framework to enable the city to "unleash" its full potential and fulfill its mission for the nation. Ho Chi Minh City was also designated by the Politburo as a growth pole for the Southeast region. Resolution 31-NQ/TW of the Politburo required the city to develop into a modern service-industrial city, a leading force in the digital economy and digital society, a national economic, financial, commercial, free trade zone, cultural, educational, and science-technology center, deeply integrated internationally, with a prominent position in Southeast Asia and Asia, and possessing global competitiveness.

Ho Chi Minh City urban area

In his directive speech at the First Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025-2030, General Secretary To Lam reaffirmed this strategy and emphasized the top priority: completing the planning and redesigning the development space according to a multi-polar, integrated, and connected mindset, operating under a multi-center governance model. The General Secretary particularly noted that this is a new issue of decisive importance; the longer the delay, the more opportunities for development the city will lose.

To realize these strategic goals, Ho Chi Minh City has set specific targets for the next five years, facing immense pressure. Specifically, for the period 2026-2030, the city is projected to need to mobilize an additional 8-12 billion USD annually to achieve a GRDP growth rate of 10-11% per year and a GRDP per capita of 14,000-15,000 USD by 2030.

In fact, Ho Chi Minh City does not lack financial potential. The city's consolidated GRDP is estimated at 3.03 trillion VND, accounting for 23.5% of the national GDP. Budget revenue for the first 10 months of 2025 alone reached approximately 652,500 billion VND and is projected to reach 737,000 billion VND for the whole year, accounting for 36.7% of the total national budget revenue. However, the gap between potential and development momentum still exists. The core issue is having mechanisms to transform potential into development momentum.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is a megacity of the country, but it is still "wearing the institutional cloak of a provincial-level city," which is no longer compatible with its new stature. The urgent task is to supplement and "upgrade" Resolution 98 in the direction of expanding autonomy and self-responsibility so that the city has a superior legal framework to implement "reconstruction of development space" in the spirit of General Secretary To Lam's directive.

In the draft amendments to Resolution 98 (submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Finance last weekend), several strategic breakthrough mechanisms were proposed, laying the groundwork for the city to enter a new growth phase. These include the Ho Chi Minh City Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and the "upgrading" of urban development mechanisms based on the Transport-Oriented Development (TOD) model...

In particular, the addition of the FTZ, along with integrated policy groups, incorporates many superior and unique mechanisms to attract strategic investors and mobilize domestic and foreign resources for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, creating a foundation for a new development model.

The TOD mechanism, on the other hand, proposes expanding its scope from transportation infrastructure development to comprehensive urban development, aligning with the trends of megacities worldwide. This mechanism allows cities greater flexibility in land use, particularly in leveraging land from TOD to generate counterpart funding for public investment, such as for railway projects under the build-transfer model. Thus, the city will have a more effective and convenient tool for mobilizing capital in integrated planning, combining transportation development with the development of living spaces, jobs, and services – reducing population pressure.

In its submission to the Government, the Ministry of Finance affirmed that there is sufficient political, legal, and practical basis to submit to the National Assembly for consideration the amendment and supplementation of Resolution 98 through a streamlined procedure. The early "upgrading" of Resolution 98 is not only an urgent requirement for Ho Chi Minh City, but also a strategic decision for the entire country, aiming to create a sufficiently strong institutional foundation for this leading metropolis. With autonomy and a corresponding breakthrough mechanism, Ho Chi Minh City can transform its enormous potential into a driving force for growth. From there, the city can best fulfill its role as a leading engine of development, integrate deeply into the international community, and make a worthy contribution to the cause of building and protecting a prosperous, civilized, and happy nation.

KIEU PHONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/hoan-thien-the-che-mo-duong-cho-tphcm-dot-pha-post821392.html