Efforts to increase the percentage of urban green space.

Báo Tài nguyên Môi trường•14/12/2023

The area of green space is still low.

At the "People Ask - Government Answers" program on the theme "Management and Development of Public Parks and Green Spaces" recently organized by the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Mr. Dang Phu Thanh - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction - stated that currently, the city has approximately 11,369 hectares of park and green space. Of this, from 1975 to the present, the city has upgraded, repaired, renovated, and newly constructed approximately 405 public parks and green spaces, covering an area of 508 hectares. Among these, the city has large parks such as Gia Dinh Park, Go Vap Park; the National Historical and Cultural Park, Khanh Hoi Park, and the Saigon Bridge Park…

The park is a newly constructed area in the new urban development of Thu Duc City.

According to the City's Public Green Space Development Program for the period 2020-2030, from 2020 to 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will develop an additional 150 hectares of public parks and green spaces; from 2026 to 2030, the city will develop an additional 450 hectares of public parks and green spaces. This goal aims to achieve the target of at least 0.65 m²/person of urban green space by 2025, and at least 1 m²/person by 2030, as stipulated in the Resolution of the 11th Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.

However, to date, the ratio of urban green space per capita remains low, at 0.55 m²/person. Ho Chi Minh City has only added 21.74 hectares of parks and green space, reaching approximately 14.5% of the target of developing an additional 150 hectares of parks and green space by 2025. The projected figure for 2025 is only slightly over 100 hectares, achieving 75% of the set plan.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nha, Director of the Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City, stated: "In each area, each apartment complex is announced according to standards, and these parks are located throughout the districts and communes... According to the zoning plan, there are currently 600/600 planning projects in the city with full park and green space amenities, and these projects have been approved. However, many of these projects have not yet been implemented on the ground, so the percentage of added green space has not met the set requirements. In addition, many parks and green spaces in Ho Chi Minh City are currently being misused, encroached upon for various purposes such as business, trading, and organizing events, significantly reducing the green areas and recreational spaces for the people."

We need decisive solutions.

To achieve the goals of the Public Green Park Development Program in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2020-2030, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council has requested the City People's Committee to implement more decisive measures. Specifically, the city needs to strengthen social mobilization, attract resources from all economic sectors, and integrate socio-economic development programs to effectively implement the Government's plan to plant 1 billion trees and Ho Chi Minh City's plan to plant 10 million trees for the period 2021-2025.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction needs to accelerate the implementation of investment projects to develop public parks and green spaces in the city. At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture should urgently research and develop a set of standards for land use planning for various types of public parks in the city; and provide guidance on the preparation and approval of overall site plans and detailed construction plans at a scale of 1/500 for each existing park.

The Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council also requested the People's Committee of Thu Duc City and the districts and communes to review land areas originally designated as public land for green spaces but currently used for other purposes, in order to reclaim them and invest in the construction of public parks in accordance with the approved plan; and to urge and require investors of residential development projects in the area to accelerate construction progress, complete the park and green space system according to the approved plan, and hand it over to the state management agency as prescribed.

For the Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Management Center - the unit directly responsible for managing the park system - it is necessary to establish boundaries and digitize information and data to serve the management of public parks within its jurisdiction; and to research and develop a plan for utilizing the overall layout of the parks under its management as a basis for organizing new construction, repair, upgrading, and operation of services within the parks in accordance with regulations.

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