Ho Chi Minh City will be the new emerging shopping-consumption center of Southeast Asia.

(Chinhphu.vn) - Ho Chi Minh City is considered a 'super city' of the country and the region with many opportunities and development space in the new era, combining the traditional administrative-financial-consumer center with a dynamic industrial-logistics-seaport area.

Seminar "HCMC's development space - Driving force from building supply and retail chains" - Photo: VGP/Le Anh

On the afternoon of July 11, in Vung Tau ward, the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City and Tuoi Tre newspaper coordinated with other units to organize a seminar "Ho Chi Minh City Development Space - Driving force from building supply and retail chains".

The program was attended by delegates representing central and local ministries and branches; leading experts in the field of trade, relevant associations; representatives of corporations, general companies, and enterprises operating in the fields of production, distribution, logistics, e-commerce, retail, investment in commercial infrastructure, logistics, etc.

Ho Chi Minh City becomes a multipolar megacity

At the seminar, Mr. Do Thien Anh Tuan, Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, commented that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has now become a multi-polar megacity, combining the traditional administrative-financial-consumer center with a dynamic industrial-logistics-seaport area.

With an official population of 14 million, accounting for about 13.5% of the country's population, equivalent to Tokyo (Japan), surpassing Jakarta (Indonesia), this creates a huge domestic consumer market. "The sharp increase in population, income and living standards after the merger significantly increased the purchasing power and consumption capacity of the City," Mr. Tuan emphasized.

Meanwhile, in terms of economic scale, Ho Chi Minh City has only reached about 120 billion USD GRDP, equivalent to 23.5% of the country's GDP, affirming its role as a locomotive and leading economic concentration center in Vietnam.

From a market perspective, after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has all the conditions to become the most diverse consumer and service center in Vietnam, playing both the role of a distribution hub and a leader of national consumer tastes.

At the regional level, Ho Chi Minh City has begun to enter the group of megacities with the role of regional trade-logistics centers, comparable in role to important cities such as Singapore, Bangkok or Shanghai.

Mr. Do Thien Anh Tuan, Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, commented that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has now become a multipolar megacity - Photo: VGP/Le Anh

In fact, Ho Chi Minh City currently owns a dense network of shopping malls, supermarkets, wholesale markets and a modern retail distribution system. The integration with Binh Duong adds the role of an industrial base with warehouses and logistics clusters in Song Than, VSIP, Bau Bang... Meanwhile, Ba Ria-Vung Tau brings the Cai Mep-Thi Vai deep-water seaport system, capable of connecting directly to international shipping routes.

The connection of these three localities allows Ho Chi Minh City to develop a closed trade, logistics and production ecosystem, flexibly meeting both domestic and export markets.

According to Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City Bui Ta Hoang Vu, expanding the development space and operating the multi-center urban model is not simply a mechanical adjustment in terms of administration, but more importantly, this is an opportunity to elevate the position of Ho Chi Minh City on the economic map of Southeast Asia. To realize that goal, the city's leaders have proactively innovated the growth model, establishing a central role in finance, production, trade, logistics and innovation in the region, with the overarching goal of developing the economy in a modern, sustainable direction and deeply integrating into the global value chain.

Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade Bui Ta Hoang Vu said that Ho Chi Minh City has proactively innovated its growth model, establishing its central role in finance, production, trade, logistics and innovation in the region - Photo: VGP/Le Anh

Need to exploit waterway logistics well

Sharing solutions to promote the potential of the new Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Phan Huy Chi, Senior Advisor of the Vietnam Commodity Exchange, said that the space after the merger of Ho Chi Minh City is very large when there are seaports, logistics systems... Therefore, it is necessary to redesign the space for commercial development and exploit waterway logistics well.

Sharing about this issue, Mr. Truong Tan Loc, Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Logistics Association (HLA), said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to strongly connect ports in old localities such as Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau (old), ports in Binh Duong (old) and ports in Ho Chi Minh City to create common resources, helping Ho Chi Minh City develop strongly, becoming an international transit port cluster.

Agreeing with this view, Mr. Le Kim Cuong, Deputy Director of Logistics Service Center, Saigon New Port Corporation, suggested that there must be a solution for transporting goods by waterway, and should not be concentrated on roads because currently, it takes 5-7 days for containers to be transported from Cai Mep to the rear ICDs.

Mr. Cuong suggested reviewing Ho Chi Minh City's port to reuse the Dong Nai River, the upper Saigon River, and use barges to transport containers, because the cost of transporting by barge is quite low compared to road transport, reducing road congestion and CO2 emissions.

Le Anh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/tphcm-se-la-trung-tam-mua-sam-tieu-dung-moi-noi-cua-dong-nam-a-102250711182901725.htm