Developing a system of cultural and sports institutions befitting a creative city.

Ho Chi Minh City has identified the system of grassroots cultural and sports facilities as a crucial component of a "creative city" and a "smart city." Therefore, the city is accelerating investment in the development of this system, contributing to improving the quality of life for its citizens. This investment is a step towards concretizing Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the development of Vietnamese culture, meeting the requirements of the new era.

The Central Post Office , a unique architectural landmark in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Hong Dat/TTXVN

Removing bottlenecks in cultural and sports institutions.

Ho Chi Minh City covers an area of ​​over 6,772 km2 and has a population of over 14 million people. The need for a modern, comprehensive, and widespread system of grassroots cultural and sports facilities (especially in suburban areas, rural areas, islands, and areas formerly belonging to Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces) is essential. However, according to the Department of Culture and Sports, currently only about 43% of wards and communes in the city have cultural and sports facilities (centers providing cultural and sports services), a significantly lower rate compared to some neighboring localities.

The challenges lie not only in the lack of standardized facilities, with many dilapidated and inadequate for the needs of the people for living, training, and recreation, but also in the numerous operational obstacles faced by cultural and sports institutions, leading to inefficient activities. These include overlapping governance models where institutions are simultaneously subject to multiple regulations concerning land, public assets, finance, and expertise; a shortage of human resources to meet the demands of the new context of rapid urbanization and digital transformation; and unclear legal and financial mechanisms.

According to experts, Ho Chi Minh City needs to quickly remove "bottlenecks" and improve its cultural institutions system with the goal of building a healthy cultural environment and creating opportunities for all residents to participate in creating and enjoying cultural values. This is also the goal set forth in Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW: "Complete the national cultural institution system, ensuring that 100% of local governments at both levels and the armed forces have cultural institutions that meet the needs of people at the grassroots level and officers and soldiers for cultural creation and enjoyment, and that 90% of grassroots cultural institutions operate regularly and effectively."

Many businesses in the culture, entertainment, and sports sectors believe that Vietnam's entertainment industry is facing significant infrastructure challenges, lacking sufficiently large, internationally-standard venues to host events for tens of thousands of people, and especially lacking venues suitable for programs with 50,000 or more attendees. This is even more difficult in Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam's leading entertainment and performance market.

The city needs to improve the quality of operations, upgrade facilities, expand accessibility, and enhance the operational mechanisms of cultural and sports institutions to meet the cultural, sports, and entertainment needs of its people. Sports expert Do Tuan (Thanh My Tay ward) argues that for a "megacity," a leading center for entertainment and sports services like Ho Chi Minh City needs more modern, large-scale, international-standard stadiums and multi-purpose performance venues, instead of just Thong Nhat Stadium and Go Dau Stadium (Binh Duong), which only have a capacity of about 20,000 people and are already dilapidated and outdated.

People's Artist My Uyen, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Small Stage Theatre, proposed that the city invest resources in cultural development, including traditional theatrical arts, to create favorable conditions for artists to create, perform, and develop their abilities in a systematic and professional manner, meeting the cultural and artistic needs of the public. In particular, the city should prioritize investment in repairing and building new theaters, stages, and cultural centers to bridge the gap in access to culture and arts between areas after mergers, as many remote areas, special zones, and island communes still lag far behind the city center and inner city.

Developing modern and innovative cultural and sports infrastructure.

A friendly match between the Ho Chi Minh City Civil Servants team (white shirts) and the Ho Chi Minh City Artists team (yellow shirts) at Thong Nhat Stadium. Photo: Trung Tuyen/TTXVN

For the period 2026-2030, with a vision to 2045, Ho Chi Minh City aims to become a "service-cultural-creative city, a financial, commercial, and science and technology center of Southeast Asia".

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang affirmed that the city not only aims for economic development and strives for double-digit growth to improve people's lives, but also has the task of developing culture. Investing in culture is primarily about caring for the quality of life of the city's residents. In the long term, cultural development also directly contributes to the overall development of the country.

According to the Department of Culture and Sports, the city is finalizing a plan for the development of grassroots cultural and sports facilities by 2035, linked to the overall planning, aiming to build a modern system that operates efficiently and closely meets the needs of urban residents, especially in the process of developing a "creative city" and building a "smart city" after expanding administrative boundaries and operating a two-tiered local government model.

Movements have begun to realize Ho Chi Minh City's cultural development strategy in the spirit of Resolution No. 80, which is to "focus investment on improving cultural infrastructure, prioritizing national-scale cultural institutions on par with regional and international standards; building, perfecting, ensuring the operation and effective exploitation of a comprehensive system of grassroots cultural and sports institutions, creating a modern public cultural service system suitable to the specific characteristics of regions, areas, and ethnic groups."

On January 15, 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and Sun Group Corporation broke ground on the Rach Chiec National Sports Complex project, with a total investment of over VND 145,000 billion. The highlight of the project is a 70,000-seat stadium designed with flexible roof technology, capable of automatic opening and closing, and a modern air conditioning system. This will not only host international sporting events (SEA Games, ASIAD) but also transform into a multi-functional stage, hosting large-scale music festivals and regional and global entertainment programs. The project also allocates a large area for commercial, service, and conference facilities to support sports and events, hosting world-class art performances, contributing to the formation of an event and night-time economy center, and increasing the length of stay and spending of tourists in Ho Chi Minh City.

Previously, on August 19, 2025, the city inaugurated the Phu Tho Circus and Multipurpose Performance Hall (on the land of the former Phu Tho racetrack). This project is a significant milestone, opening up a new model of management and exploitation, not only as a venue for spectacular artistic performances but also as a center for training, international cooperation, and cultural exchange.

Not only do these projects add modern, internationally-standardized cultural and sports facilities to Ho Chi Minh City, but they also contribute to improving the spiritual life of the people, promoting tourism and the creative economy, affirming the city's position as a leading cultural, artistic, and entertainment service center in the country and the region, and becoming an important driving force for the development of the cultural industry in the city named after President Ho Chi Minh.

Dr. Huynh Van Sinh (Ho Chi Minh City Academy of Cadres) commented: The commencement of large-scale cultural and sports projects reflects a policy shift from investing in hard infrastructure to social infrastructure. Large-scale projects are not only physical infrastructure but also capacity-building infrastructure, creating a ripple effect on the economy, strengthening social capital, and enhancing the nation's standing, laying the foundation for hosting major events and building a world-class cultural and sports ecosystem in the new era.

This aligns with the spirit of Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW, which identifies the key implementation priorities for the 2026-2031 term as follows: developing the cultural industry and services; improving the institutional framework and infrastructure for innovation; reforming human resource training; promoting R&D (research and development) of innovative technologies; promoting the national image; cultural diplomacy; and participating in the global innovation network.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/phat-trien-he-thong-thiet-che-van-hoa-the-thao-xung-tam-do-thi-sang-tao-20260211090537881.htm