Ho Chi Minh City is entering a new phase of development with the aspiration to become an international financial center, an innovation hub, a leading engine of the digital economy , and a competitive metropolis in the Asian region. However, the city is increasingly facing a paradox: the pace of urban development is outpacing the adaptability of the current governance model.
That is also why the development of a Special Urban Law for Ho Chi Minh City is not just about "granting more mechanisms," but more fundamentally about finding a new "operating system" for the governance of a megacity in the digital age.
For many years, Ho Chi Minh City has been the most dynamic city in the country. The city continuously expands its development space, attracting large investment flows, promoting the digital economy, innovation, logistics, trade, and financial services. Projects such as the metro, TOD (Transit-Oriented Development), the international financial center, and the Eastern Creative City all demonstrate the ambition to reach a new level of development. However, this process has increasingly revealed "institutional delays." A large infrastructure project can take years just to complete the necessary procedures. A planning project has to go through too many layers of approval. A decision requiring a quick response to urban realities is prolonged by a multi-level permitting mechanism. Dispersed data, dispersed responsibility, and dispersed power cause many development opportunities to be delayed or missed.
The problem facing Ho Chi Minh City today is not simply a lack of development resources. The city has a market, businesses, and immense social creativity. What is often lacking is the capacity to handle the complexities of modern development.
Because the 21st-century metropolis is no longer just an ordinary administrative unit. It is a place where capital flows in real time; data becomes a strategic resource; transportation, energy, logistics, and artificial intelligence (AI) connect to form complex ecosystems; and the speed of decision-making becomes a competitive advantage. When cities change at the pace of the digital age but governance models still operate according to traditional administrative logic, institutions can easily become a bottleneck to development.
A notable point in recent discussions on the Urban Planning Law is the fundamental shift in approach: designing a governance model suited to the nature of a modern metropolis. The overarching spirit of the draft law is to truly decentralize power to Ho Chi Minh City; increase its proactive role in planning, investment, finance, land management, and infrastructure development; and shift strongly from pre-approval to post-approval, from a "request-and-grant" system to accountability. This is a very important step.
In essence, Ho Chi Minh City needs a new "operating system" that allows data to be connected in real time; decisions to be made faster and more realistically; power to be accompanied by clearer accountability; and the government to play a coordinating role in development instead of just administrative management.
That's also why many experts emphasize sandbox mechanisms (controlled testing), protecting innovative and proactive employees, or data-driven and KPI-based management models. Because innovation always comes with risks. If every mistake is seen as a violation, it will be very difficult to develop a creative and dynamic management system.
In this context, modern urban governance is no longer just an "administrative agency." It must become a data coordination center, a platform for connecting resources, and the brain operating the urban development ecosystem; this is the biggest change in governance philosophy. The significance of the Special Urban Law therefore extends beyond Ho Chi Minh City. If well-designed and effectively implemented, it could become a major experiment for the future of urban governance in Vietnam in the 21st century.
Ho Chi Minh City could become the pioneer for this way of thinking. From more substantive decentralization, better data governance, better real-time administration, to building a more flexible and accountable administration, all of these not only serve the city's development but can also contribute to shaping the national governance model in the new era. And that is the greatest significance of the journey to build a special Urban Law for Ho Chi Minh City today.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/thiet-lap-he-dieu-hanh-moi-cho-dai-do-thi-post851993.html
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