Ho Chi Minh City's transportation and urban infrastructure is developing rapidly, with priority given to land allocation for an international financial center - Photo: VAN TRUNG
Prior to the National Assembly's approval of the draft resolution, in a private exchange with Tuoi Tre newspaper, many delegates acknowledged that the final draft, after incorporating and revising feedback from group discussions, was complete and comprehensive.
Once passed, the resolution is expected to prepare new "runways" for Ho Chi Minh City. Many mechanisms will appear for the first time, both to help the city move faster and to pave the way for other localities to advance in this new era of growth.
Representative Pham Van Hoa ( Dong Thap ):
Without a breakthrough mechanism, Ho Chi Minh City will find it difficult to take advantage of its new geographical boundaries.
After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City's economy grew larger but also faced greater challenges: rapid urban population growth, pressure on infrastructure, environmental issues, climate change, weak regional linkages, and the dispersion of resources along administrative boundaries.
Without a breakthrough mechanism, the city will find it difficult to take advantage of its new geographical boundaries, attract strategic investors, and may miss the "window of opportunity" that the world is opening up.
Delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap)
However, specific mechanisms and policies cannot be developed in a uniform manner; instead, they must target bottlenecks, capitalize on advantages, and create a rapid and powerful ripple effect.
Ho Chi Minh City, a special urban area after the merger, has a population of over 14 million and plays a central role in the region, but it is facing major and long-standing bottlenecks: insufficient decentralization, complex investment procedures, and a lack of international competitiveness.
Specific mechanisms are needed to address bottlenecks in infrastructure, attracting strategic investment, innovation, logistics, finance, and digital transformation of land and urban areas. At the same time, all mechanisms must be feasible, focused, and avoid high expectations followed by low implementation.
Local authorities need to be empowered with strong authority, but this must be coupled with high responsibility, especially in preventing corruption, abuse of policies, and negative practices. Decentralization must be strong, control must be tight, action must be decisive, and results must be measurable.
It must be affirmed that when the sandbox mechanism (controlled testing mechanism) operates effectively, Ho Chi Minh City will become the locomotive pulling the country's economic train faster, stronger, and further.
In proposing mechanisms and policies, Ho Chi Minh City has demonstrated a willingness to think outside the box, take initiative, and assume responsibility for the common good. Conversely, the National Assembly needs to constantly monitor and support the city so that the new resolutions truly create a turning point in Ho Chi Minh City's development.
Therefore, I expect that immediately after the resolution is passed, the most important spirit will be swift action, strong implementation, and close monitoring.
The government needs to urgently issue guiding decrees; decentralization should be as strong as possible. Ministries and agencies must not create unnecessary procedures or cause bottlenecks. Ho Chi Minh City must have a clear action plan, immediately identifying priority projects, priority areas, and key industries for pilot sandbox programs.
More importantly, through unprecedented mechanisms and policies, Ho Chi Minh City must attract strategic investors, international financial institutions, and leading technology corporations. It must ensure a transparent environment and prevent corruption and negative practices.
Representative Tran Khanh Thu (Hung Yen):
We support Ho Chi Minh City having the strongest and most groundbreaking mechanisms.
This revised resolution, amending Resolution 98, not only creates momentum for the development of Ho Chi Minh City but also opens up a strong spirit of reform in national policy planning. The resolution does not grant special mechanisms for Ho Chi Minh City to "request and grant" favors, but rather allows the city to experiment, to pave the way, and to bring common benefits to the whole country.
These unprecedented mechanisms and policies for Ho Chi Minh City are not just a story for one locality, but a strong political commitment, giving Ho Chi Minh City the conditions to lead, pave the way, and test development models with national impact.
Representative Tran Khanh Thu (Hung Yen)
Through the discussion, it was evident that many delegates supported adding 11 priority project groups to attract strategic investors. Among these, I am particularly interested in the group of projects related to specialized healthcare, sports complexes, and cultural parks/themed parks (≥ 6,000 billion VND).
These are projects that create social, cultural, and service value that a megacity like Ho Chi Minh City is lacking and desperately needs. Ho Chi Minh City should not only be an economic center but also become a regional center for healthcare, culture, and sports, contributing to improving the quality of life for its people and increasing urban competitiveness.
Another important group of projects is the renovation and relocation of houses along canals and riverbanks (≥ 6,000 billion VND). This has been the biggest bottleneck in Ho Chi Minh City's urban development for decades. Attracting strategic investors for this group of projects will help the city definitively resolve environmental, landscape, and social welfare issues, creating a new, civilized, safe, and sustainable urban space.
It can be seen that all of these projects share a common characteristic: they are all public-private partnerships, involve large-scale investments, and require very high management and coordination capabilities. Without a specific mechanism, it will be impossible to attract truly strategic investors. On the other hand, it will be impossible to solve the long-standing urban problems, and Ho Chi Minh City will not be able to enter a new phase of development.
Representative Nguyen Huu Thong (Lam Dong):
A strategic move, creating momentum for new growth targets.
The 10th session is taking place against the backdrop of the country facing very ambitious growth targets: over 8% growth in 2025; aiming for double-digit growth from 2026 onwards; Vietnam must become a middle-income country by 2030 and strive to become a high-income country by 2045. Achieving this requires strategic steps and specific policies designed to address the right issues, bottlenecks, and practical needs.
Representative Nguyen Huu Thong (Lam Dong)
The National Assembly has also just issued a resolution on the socio-economic development plan for 2026. The resolution stipulates that it is necessary to promote growth, improve institutions, remove bottlenecks, leverage resources, and transform the growth model based on science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation.
Within that overall framework, Ho Chi Minh City plays a particularly important role. After the merger, the city has an area of 6,772.6 km²; a population of over 14 million people; and a workforce of 7.28 million people.
Ho Chi Minh City contributes 23.5% of the national GDP, with projected budget revenue exceeding 750,000 billion VND (36.7% of the national total). The average GRDP per capita is estimated at 220 million VND (8,944 USD), 1.7 times higher than the national average.
Therefore, the proposed amendments to Resolution 98 of Ho Chi Minh City are very urgent. If delayed, the city will lose the opportunity to attract strategic investors, fail to implement the free trade zone mechanism, and not be able to resolve key infrastructure issues such as the urban railway.
The Standing Committee of the National Assembly agrees with the specific and superior mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, and requests that the development of these mechanisms and policies should be focused and targeted, avoiding a scattered approach, ensuring feasibility, and promptly addressing newly arising issues.
In addition, there is a need for strong decentralization and delegation of power to local authorities. I propose that attention should be paid to the implementation process with a decisive and determined spirit, delivering tangible results and preventing negative situations, corruption, and abuse of policies.
Speaker of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man
After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City is no longer a typical administrative city but must operate as a smart regional city, where the government is strongly decentralized, the organization is streamlined, and operations are flexible on a data and technology platform.
Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City needs to establish a governance model for a megacity with its own legal framework, appropriate to its population size, economy, and level of regional connectivity.
Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sua-doi-nghi-quyet-98-mo-duong-cho-tp-hcm-thi-diem-co-che-chua-tung-co-2025121108034892.htm#content-1
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