Thu Duc City: A New Impetus for Ho Chi Minh City’s Development
Located at the eastern gate of Ho Chi Minh City, Thu Duc has an important position in the southern economic region. It is the hub of the arterial traffic routes between Ho Chi Minh City and the southeast provinces.
Steps of Infrastructure Transformation
Like many young people from rural provinces, Nguyen Xuan Son (from Quang Ngai province) chose Ho Chi Minh City as a place to start his career. In 2007, Son left his hometown for the city to go to university. After graduating, he continued to live and work in Thu Duc which has become his second hometown.
For more than 15 years, Son has witnessed many rapid changes of this area, from a suburban district to the first city within a city in Ho Chi Minh City and in the whole country. During the development period, what made Son most impressed was the great change of the urban face of Thu Duc.
Son said, “When I went to the univiersity village of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh (VNUHCM) in Linh Trung ward, Thu Duc for the first time, I saw many dilapidated hostels with cheap rent, suitable for students and unskilled workers. At that time, only a few new projects and buildings were under construction in the area, and the rest were mostly level-4 houses and there were some spontaneous markets on narrow roads.
The area now has developed into a leading science and technology training center of Ho Chi Minh City with all the modern elements in terms of urban beauty, infrastructure and essential services. The current generation of students surely feel satisfied and very happy to study in such a good environment”.
Thu Duc is a young city which has outstanding and specialized strengths in terms of geographical location as well as infrastructure foundations.
It is the eastern gateway of Ho Chi Minh City, adjacent to the southeast provinces with a transport system that has increasingly developed in a synchronous and convenient way to connect and cooperate with neighbouring provinces in economic development. They include metro line No. 1 from Suoi Tien tourist area to Ben Thanh (district 1) which is to be put into operation in the near future, ring road 3 (My Phuoc - Tan Van - Nhon Trach), the city expressway of Ho Chi Minh - Long Thanh - Dau Giay, national highway 1A, national highway 1K, Hanoi highway connecting to the center of district 1, Pham Van Dong highway connecting to Tan Son Nhat airport, Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts and waterways on the Saigon river and Dong Nai river.
Furthermore, it is also a particularly favorable area for the development of logistics, distributing goods transported by connecting multi-modal transport flows with Cat Lai port (Cat Lai ward), the largest and most modern one in Vietnam which has a 160ha yard and a 2,040m wharf.
When asked about his desire for the development of Thu Duc in the near future, Son expressed his hope that metro line No.1 - the first modern urban railway of Ho Chi Minh City would soon be completed to change and improve the appearance of the city's transportation system.
It is also the aspiration of many residents living and working in Thu Duc. They expect Thu Duc to have strong development steps, along with the locality’s potential and internal strength, towards a modern, multi-center urban area and a livable city.
Towards a Multi-Center Urban Area
With the efforts and expectations to promote Thu Duc to develop rapidly, strongly and sustainably to serve as a new impetus for the development of Ho Chi Minh City and the whole southeastern region in June 2023, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just submitted to the prime minister its master plan for Thu Duc until 2040.
Accordingly, Thu Duc is classified as a level-1 urban area in Ho Chi Minh City. It is planned to be an innovative and highly interactive one for economy, science - technology, culture - education to the east of Ho Chi Minh City. The city will become the nucleus of the city's 4th industrial revolution for economic-social-environment development on the platform of a knowledge led economy, science, technology and development cooperation.
To implement the plan, Ho Chi Minh City will develop Thu Duc into a multi-center urban area with one main center that is the Thu Thiem area and two other centers, Truong Tho and Long Phuoc.
The Thu Thiem area will be developed into an international financial center. Truong Tho will be an administrative, commercial and service center, a model of the future urban area for living and working with an ideal infrastructure, managed by high technology. Long Phuoc will be a center of ecology, research, training and high-tech production
On the basis of the three mentioned major centers, to stimulate the economy, creativity, and innovation, Thu Duc also has 10 key areas for development, including Thu Thiem international financial center, Cat Lai - Thanh My Loi urban centre for commerce, port services and industry, Truong Tho commercial, cultural, creative and highly interactive urban area, Tam Phu park and urban area, Linh Trung urban area for advanced production, trade and services, Ho Chi Minh City High-tech production, service and training zone, Long Binh national cultural history park, Ho Chi Minh City science and technology park in Long Phuoc commune, Long Phuoc - Tam Da ecotech hub and an area for VNU - HCM.
In concert with developing Thu Duc into a multi-center urban area which is modern and dynamic, city leaders also paid much attention to preserving and promoting the advantages of current historical and cultural areas, namely Suoi Tien cultural tourist area (Tan Phu ward), the national history and culture park (Long Binh ward), Hue Nghiem pagoda (An Khanh Ward), Ao dai Museum (Long Phuoc ward), Tam Da lotus pond (Truong Thanh ward), Giga mall (Hiep Binh Chanh ward), Sala urban park (An Loi Dong ward, inside Sala urban area) and Vincom Thu Duc (Binh Tho ward).
These will be attractive and impressive tourist and cultural destinations for Thu Duc to attract tourists./.
