DECISION No.532-TTg OF JULY 12, 1997 TO APPROVE THE MASTER PLAN ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF HO CHI MINH CITY IN THE PERIOD 1996-2010

THE PRIME MINISTER

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the Master Plan on the Socio-Economic Development of Ho Chi Minh City in the Period 1996-2010 along the following major orientations:

I. Location and functions:

Ho Chi Minh City is a large city, a multi-functional center located in the key economic development zone comprising Ho Chi Minh City - Song Be - Dong Nai - Ba Ria - Vung Tau; a development center of the Southern region and the whole country. The city shall be developed step by step into a modern hub, which is closely associated in terms of planning and socio-economic infrastructure with the provinces of eastern and southern Vietnam, Mekong River Delta, southern Central Highlands and south-Central Vietnam. This will enable the acceleration of the process of industrialization, modernization and environmental protection, and combined efforts of the entire country in expanding cooperation and enhancing the competitiveness of the national economy on the regional and international markets

II. General development objectives:

1. To keep the city�s growth rate higher than the national average and develop the city economically, culturally and socially in a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable manner while ensuring stable security and defense.

2. To bring about strong and synchronous changes and raise the productivity, quality and efficiency of the entire economy (particularly key production branches and services) with an export-oriented economic structure. To create a rational structure of interactive economic components including: a State run economy, a cooperative economy, a private economy and a State capitalist economy

3. To control the population growth rate and rationally redistribute inhabitants in the region and in the city. To improve the quality of human resources in terms of educational level, professional skills and physical strength. To attach importance to the scientific, technological, cultural and artistic development to a level commensurate with that of a regional center. To overcome negative phenomena and social vices and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.

4. To develop synchronously and advance the system of socio-economic and technical infrastructure, especially urban traffic. In parallel with renovating and upgrading the old city quarters, to quickly develop new urban areas and urbanize rural areas so as to reduce the overconcentration of population in the central quarters; to increase the density of green trees, overcome the problem of pollution, improve the ecological environment and strive for a civilized and modern city.

5. To continue the administrative reform, promote the State management capacity at the various administrative levels of the city; study and propose adjustments and supplements to the mechanisms, policies and legal issues so as to create a new driving force for and mobilize the people to take part in building the city.

6. To firmly maintain discipline and public order, social safety and ensure security and defense.

III. Specific objectives and major targets:

1. Population and sources of labor:

To restrict the population growth at a rate of not higher than 2.8%.

By the year 2010, the city�s population shall be about 7.5 to 8 million, of whom 5 to 6 million will be laborers.

To reduce the unemployment rate to around 5 %.

2. Economically:

From now to the year 2000 and in the subsequent years, the city shall maintain an average GDP growth rate of 13%. Particularly, the service sector shall grow by about 14.4%, the industrial and construction sector by about 14% and the agricultural, forestry, fishery and mining sector by about 4% (by the year 2010);

The average per capita GDP shall be about 1,600 USD (by the year 2000) and about 4,540 USD (by the year 2010);

By the year 2010, the city�s GDP structure shall continue to develop along the service-industry-agriculture direction, in which services make up 54%; industries: 45.3%; agriculture-forestry-fishery and mining: 0.7%; The structure of economic sectors shall be: the State-run sector accounting for about 30%; non-State sector: about 40% and foreign invested enterprises: about 30%;

From now to the year 2000 and then to 2010, the average growth rate of total import and export value shall be about 22%; the average growth rate of total import value shall be about 24% from now to the year 2000 and about 19% from 2000 to 2010;

Total investment capital shall be about 133,641 billion VND (around 12.149 billion USD) in the 1996 - 2000 period and about 782,141 billion VND (around 71.103 billion USD) in the 2000 - 2010 period.

3. Urban and infrastructure development:

- The amount of electricity received from the national power grid: about 8,073 million Kwh (by the year 2000) and about 23,913 million (by the year 2010);

- The amount of water produced: 1,250,000 m3/day (by the year 2000) and 2,820,000 m3/day (by the year 2010);

- The average per-capita housing space: 7 m2 (by the year 2000) and 12 m2 (by the year 2010);

- The average per-capita urban greenery in existing urban areas shall be increased to 3.6 m2 (by the year 2000) and 4 m2 (by the year 2010); and in expanded urban areas from 30 m2 to 35 m2 (after the year 2000).

4. Education: The average highest educational level attained shall be grade 7.5 (by the year 2000) and grade 10 (by the year 2010).

5. Health: The number of hospital beds shall be 16,900 (by the year 2000) and 19,700 (by the year 2010).

IV. Major development tasks:

1. To develop and modernize such key branches and services as commerce, import and export, finance and banking, insurance, tourism, information and telecommunication, science and technology and others in service of production and business, as well as diversified activities of the city and the southern region. To build Ho Chi Minh City into one of the commercial, financial and banking centers of the whole country and the Southeast Asian region.

2. To invest in new technologies and advanced technical equipment in order to improve the quality of products of the existing industries. To concentrate investment on the development of such spearhead industries as mechanical engineering; electronics-information technologies; biological technologies in service of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products processing; new materials manufacturing technologies; and key industries serving domestic consumption and export needs. To develop the city�s industrial zones in conformity with the strategy on the development and distribution of the production force in the whole region, ensuring the cooperative relations and harmonious assignment of operation with the industrial zones of adjoining provinces within a uniform system. To gradually move industrial establishments that are no longer suitable for an inner city location to concentrated industrial parks. The development of industries must ensure a sustainable environment.

3. To speed up the development of ecological agriculture in close association with processing industries. To attach importance to the development of clean vegetables, fruit and food. To develop agriculture hand in hand with the building of a new countryside, with attention paid to upgrading the socio-economic infrastructure and technical infrastructure, including power, communications, clean water, information and communication, schools, medical care and hospitals and and dwelling houses as well as improving education in order to raise the cultural level of the population.

4. To simultanueously improve and modernize the technical infrastructure of the city so as to quickly overcome the existing over-loaded situation, while at the same time preparing necessary conditions for development of the set objectives. To concentrate investment on developing the mass transit, upgrading existing airports and sea ports and to develop a sea-going fleet and maritime shipping services. To coordinate with nearby provinces in upgrading National Highways 1A, 22, 13, 50 and 51 and open new main roads linking the city to developing urban areas and concentrated industrial zones which are being formally designed. To upgrade and expand the city�s outbound traffic system with new routes, key constructions and means of land and water transport, ensuring smooth traffic flow between the city and the southern region and the entire country, as well as trans-Asian transport.

The city�s system of transport and communications, power supply, water supply and drainage; information and communication and urban sanitation shall have to be upgraded and developed step-by-step according to long-term and overall planning and along the direction of modernization on a par with the technological and managerial level of civilized and advanced cities in the region and the world.

To research and implement the urban planning and architecture in order to transform Ho Chi Minh City into a modern city bearing the nation�s identity; to preserve and renovate typical historical, cultural and architectural relics and natural landscapes.

By the year 2010, to basically complete the clearance of the slums located on and along the canals and dredge up the drainage system of the city. To combine the clearance of the slums with the population resettlement and the improvement of people�s living and working conditions.

5. To promote the cultural and social development commensurate with the economic development to meet the conditions of a regional center. To organize the life of the city population along a modern and civilized orientation, while firmly preserving the nation�s cultural identity. To attach importance to teaching and improving the quality of education, to create human resources for meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization and socio-economic development of the city.

6. To strictly manage the process of urbanization, investment and construction. To combine the renovation and repair of the old urban quarters with the building of new urban quarters in accordance with the master plan and satisfy the criteria for urban planning and technical infrastructure, architecture, public utilities and other criteria of a modern and civilized city.

To develop the city into a multi-centered city linked to other provinces in the region through urbanized corridors. To control the natural and physical population growth together with population resettlement. To restrict the population of the whole city to about 7.5 and 8 million by the year 2010, of which about 3 million will reside in 12 old inner districts, about 3 million in newly developed districts and urban centers in peripheral areas, and about 2 million in suburban rural areas. To renovate, upgrade and modernize the 12 existing inner districts simultaneously with developing new urban districts in peripheral areas. To rapidly construct new urban quarters and concentrated industrial zones to accommodate that part of the population moving from the inner city.

To plan the renovation of rural areas in connection with the development of peripheral towns, expandion and new rural districts and urban population quarters attached to concentrated industrial zones.

Major development directions of the city will be:

- Eastward: The former Thu Duc area up to the border of Nhon Trach and Long Thanh in Dong Nai province;

- Southward: The area of urban Districts 7 and 8, Districts Nha Be - Nam Binh Chanh and to the sea;

- Northward: Along National Highway 22 (Trans-Asian route) in the Hoc Mon and Cu Chi areas to the border of Tay Ninh and along National Highway 13 to the border of Binh Duong;

- Westward: Along National Highway 1 and National Highway 50 to the Mekong River delta.

V. Major solutions:

To implement the master plan, the People�s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City should creatively apply simultaneous mechanisms and policies suitable to the conditions of the city in order to mobilize all possible resources inside and outside the country to achieve the set socio-economic development objectives.

After the master plan is approved, it is necessary to specify the objectives and start the implementation thereof through socio-economic development programs and investment projects, to design and approve short-term, mid-term and long-term plans for the execution and management thereof. In the course of implementing the master plan, it may be necessary to update data on the situation and organize preliminary and summary meetings to draw experiences for evaluation and making timely adjustments.

The People�s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City shall, together with the concerned Ministries and branches, study and propose to the Government specific mechanisms and policies to ensure that the city develops along the set orientation; mobilize capital, expand the market, develop human resources, develop sciences and technologies, and protect the environment.

Article 2.- The People�s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City shall plan to closely inspect and supervise the implementation of the master plan The Ministries and branches at the central level shall coordinate with and support Ho Chi Minh City in the implementation process so as to ensure the uniformity between the city�s master plan and the development strategy and planning of the economic, technical and social branches, in conformity with the territorial planning, the planning of key economic zones of the Southern region and the whole country.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect from the date of its promulgation. The President of the People�s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the concerned Ministers, Heads of the concerned ministerial-level agencies, agencies attached to the Government and People�s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall implement this Decision.

The Prime Minister