Urban development along Saigon river: Elevating Thuan An urban area

Yesterday (March 1), Nguyen Van Loi, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly Deputy Delegation had a meeting with Thuan An city on setting up and adjusting the city’s overal planning and urban development planning along Saigon river.

Potential being awakened

Saigon river flows through the territory of Thuan An city with a length of about 13.6km via Vinh Phu, Lai Thieu, Binh Nham and An Son wards. According to Thuan An urban planning, the route along Saigon river connects from Ba Lua Bridge in Thu Dau Mot city to Vinh Binh bridge, bordering Ho Chi Minh city, with a total length of over 13km. Currently, many projects, namely An Son resettlement housing area, Eden - Thuan An high-rise housing area, Saigon riverside park. Over the past time, many traffic routes along Saigon river in Thuan An city were upgraded have been implemented along Saigon river. A number of inland waterway ports, passenger and cargo berths were built along Saigon river, facilitating people’s travelling and trade activities.

During the meeting with Thuan An city, Nguyen Van Loi (third left), member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly Deputy Delegation directly checks the construction progress of Binh Nham canal’s tidal control sluice

According to the orientation for spatial organization of the landscape axis along Saigon river shown by consulting units in the planning and approved by Thuan An city’s Party Standing Committee, the corridor along Saigon river from Vinh Binh bridge in Vinh Phu ward to An Son port is planned as an important landscape axis of the city. The Saigon riverside corridor will connect with the main urban roads of the city, the province and connect with Ho Chi Minh city. Along the corridor, there will be 6 inland waterway ports. They will form up community service centers…

Nguyen Thanh Tam, Chairman of Thuan An city’s People's Committee said Thuan An is a compact city with very high population density. Therefore, the implementation of urban construction along Saigon river is a policy that is very suitable to the trend. Currently, along Saigon river, there are many development projects in Hung Dinh, Binh Nham, and An Son. However, the city will work with consulting units to deliberate urban development in areas in a reasonable and harmonious way...

Many ideas for Thuan An

Regarding Thuan An city’s urban development planning along Saigon river, many opinions said that Thuan An is one of localities with convenient infrastructure facilities, especially traffic ones. In particular, the north-south traffic axes such as National Highway 13, My Phuoc - Tan Van expressway, DT743 street, CMT8 street and belt road 3 in Binh Chuan - An Son that is under construction have increased the local connectivity. This is also a favorable condition when the city implements urban development along Saigon river.

However, according to many opinions, Thuan An needs to pay attention to issues on climate change, flood discharge of Dau Tieng reservoir, etc. to carry out planning of suitable works during the process of urban development along Saigon river. In addition, the city needs to research and identify defense works in order to have a planning direction with the elements of defense-security ensured. Many ideas also said that the city should pay attention to ensuring the flow of water, limiting concretion and upholding the role of Saigon river’s climate regulation during the process of implementing works. The city’s planning process also needs to deliberate the construction of cultural institutions and works to ensure harmony and commensuration with the local development.

Nguyen Khoa Hai, Director of provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that cultural spaces and institutions are places to serve people and workers so that they can regenerate their labor strength. Therefore, the city needs to build multi-functional cultural centers; focus on preserving the local traditional craft villages, especially ceramics; preserve orchards to create a space for the local eco-tourism development because Saigon river has a lot of potential for tourism development.

At the meeting with leaders of Thuan An city about the adjustment of the city's overall planning and urban development planning along Saigon river, Mr. Loi highly appreciated the local planning progress. He suggested the city’s Party Standing Committee, Secretary of the city’s Party Committee and Chairman of the city’s People's Committee to further direct and speed up the local planning progress for approval by provincial Party Standing Committee in March 2022. In addition, he requested the city to consider and build up a traffic system that connects more goods and human axes with Ho Chi Minh city in the local overal planning. In addition, the city needs to consider housing planning…

On the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Loi also visited, encouraged and offered gifts to Lai Thieu ward’s Medical Station. Reporting to him, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, Chairwoman of Lai Thieu ward’s People's Committee said that up to now, 60% of people in the ward have got third Covid-19 vaccine shots. And the ward is focusing on opening a campaign to promote additional and booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine for the rest. Along with anti-Covid-19 measures, Mr. Loi asked for Lai Thieu ward as well as the whole Thuan An city to speed up third Covid-19 vaccine shots for the local  people, ensuring that that this task must be completed by March 15...

Regarding the vaccination work against the Covid-19 pandemic, up to now, over 80% of people in the city has got second Covid-19 vaccine shots and there have been over 47% of people with third Covid-19 vacccine shots. The city is actively accelerating the progress of the 3^rd Covid-19 injection among people. Mr. Loi asked for Thuan An city to urgently speed up the progress of vaccination against Covid-19, ensuring the completion of the 3rd dose vaccination from March 15 to 20.

Checking the construction progress of Binh Nham canal’s tidal control sluice that is responsible for preventing floods, high tides and flood discharge from Dau Tieng reservoir, preventing flooding for the entire benefiting area of ​​2,690 hectares, Mr. Loi said that this is a very important project, so construction units needs to speed up its progress. He requested Thuan An city, provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with relevant units to research and deploy the remaining 4 culverts in the city to perfect its system of works against inundation, high tide and climate change along Saigon river.

Over the past time, Thuan An city coordinated with consulting units to accelerate the planning of urban development along Saigon river. This is one of the city’s important tasks to create a bustling, modern and civilized urban space along Saigon river, forming up a multi-functional, high-rise, mixed development corridor on trade-services, high-quality housing...

Reported by Tri Dung-Translated by Kim Tin