Media - TRUYỀN THÔNG

FOREWORD

Within the framework of this proposal, I would like to suggest some 'strategic' approaches to the general planning for Ho Chi Minh City through inter-regional connectivity by a few key projects rather than going into the trend. development direction (knowledge economy, green economy), sustainable design or anti-climate change,... but the proposals will be able to contribute to HCMC's development & adaptation or limitation. harmful effects of natural conditions.

Here are 3 proposed inter-regional connectivity (3-axis):

1. NE axis: connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Nhon Trach, Dong Nai (to the East)

2. SW axis: connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta via Long An, Tien Giang,...

3. SEA axis: connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Can Gio (to the sea).

1. NE axis: through Nhon Trach (Phu Huu)

The reasons & solutions are as follows:

The trend of Cat Lai port will be reduced load, partial relocation of functions, so there will be less goods and trucks entering this area.

The traffic capacity from Thu Duc to Nhon Trach (North to South) is enough, just the Ring Bridge 3

The Q7 bridge across Nhon Trach will help connect inter-regional traffic: East to West more convenient & help connect centers: Thu Thiem, Sport City, Tam Da, Nhon Trach, Phu Huu, Phu My Hung,... by ring road like Singapore - Johor Bahru (see picture below)

On the other hand, climate change is always a worry & costly treatment for the whole city in general (especially the newly established Thu Duc city). The construction of this bridge in Q7 combined with a smart tidal dam like the Netherlands will help limit flooding upstream of the Saigon River & Dong Nai River (in the South area, there are already anti-flood works, adding this dam will help the whole country). The city can manage this climate change at a lower cost than building embankments and embankments for projects and urban areas upstream of the city).

On the other hand, this convenient inter-regional connection will help increase the value of land fund in Phu Huu, Nhon Trach, which can be considered as District 13 of Ho Chi Minh City.

2. SW axis: connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta through Long An, Tien Giang,... with canals & rivers as the main axis.

The city is having a renovation project along the Doi canal, it is clear that this is a very beautiful waterway / route for the city if the renovation is completed.

Looking further ahead, from Kênh Đôi to Bến Lức and to Long An, it will become a waterway axis and the main landscape for the riverside areas. Should it be planned into residential areas, social housing for population expansion from this area? On the other hand, this will be an important direction for the future development of the city, with its own identity in the western region of Ho Chi Minh City that has been planned on a large scale and with similar characteristics to the eastern area (Thu Duc). 

The Tan Kien Medical Urban Area and the starting point of the high-speed metro line from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho, Hung Long University Village, and the new Mien Tay Bus Station will soon move to the beginning of Nguyen Van Linh Street and National Highway 1A 

Looking further, this West direction along the Metro Expressway will be suitable for urban areas associated with river identity.

3. SEA axis: connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Can Gio (to the sea): one of the very important directions

Weaknesses of the current connection between Ho Chi Minh City and the sea:

Location of Can Gio bridge is at the end of Nguyen Luong Bang street, traffic capacity on Nguyen Luong Bang street is quite limited. If Huynh Tan Phat Street is widen, it won't be better for support. Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway, when conditions open, can be completed to replace the location of this Can Gio bridge.

Accessing public transport to Can Gio in the future is difficult if Can Gio bridge is in its old location (at the end of Nguyen Luong Bang) because there is no metro line.

Comment on the location of Can Gio port (not only for economy & but also for national defense and security)

Summarizing the above factors make the following suggestions?

This road will help reduce the load on Rung Sac road & the future metro line 4 extending from Hiep Phuoc to Long Beach will connect to the internal LRT network of this new urban area.

In terms of public transport, visitors can go from Tan Son Nhat airport, Ben Thanh market, can use metro transport to go down to Can Gio airport & Long Beach urban area or vice versa conveniently. more transparent.

On the other hand, in the future, when Can Gio is connected to Vung Tau, it will form a closed metro/train belt. Inter-regional connection of public transport (metro) with directions.

Ho Chi Minh City: Focus on developing urban parks and trees
Nguyen Le - dientu@hanoimoi.com.vn

(HNM) - Ho Chi Minh City is seriously lacking in parks and trees. Therefore, in addition to the plan to expand the park land area, the city has paid special attention to planting trees along the roads, river corridors, canals and new urban areas.

Green area is still low

Every morning, hundreds of people flock to Le Van Tam Park (District 1) to exercise. Ms. Tran Thi Dung (in Ward 7, District 3) said: "There is no big park in District 3, so people have to go to District 1 to use "ke". Although it is inconvenient, we have no way to go. any other".

According to the Department of Construction of Ho Chi Minh City, the number of parks in the city is both small and unevenly distributed. For example, in District 1, there are currently 4 parks, namely Tao Dan Cultural Park, Le Van Tam Park, April 30 Park and September 23 Park. Meanwhile, District 3 next door does not have any large parks. And in districts like District 9, Thu Duc, Binh Tan, Nha Be, Binh Chanh, Cu Chi... even though they own a large land bank, there are no parks.

As of the end of 2018, Ho Chi Minh City had 369 parks on a total land area of more than 491 hectares. The average park land area is 0.49m2/person. According to the plan, the green tree area per capita of Ho Chi Minh City must reach 6-7m2/person, but currently only 0.5m2/person.

Talking about this issue, Politburo member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan acknowledged: The city's population is over 10 million people, but now there are only 102,000 numbered trees, addresses, while Singapore's population is just over 5.5 million people, but there are more than 2 million trees...

Building multi-functional green infrastructure

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is experiencing a high rate of urbanization, so the development of trees in new urban areas has been paid great attention by the city. Typically, in Phu My Hung New Urban Area (District 7), which plays the role of greening for this place, there are currently nearly 100 parks. Prominent is Crescent Lake Park (7ha wide) and a combination of parks in Nam Vien area (5.5ha wide), the rest are internal parks mixed with neighborhoods with an average area of about 2,000m2. .

As a result, the per capita green area of the urban area is nearly 9m2/person (the highest in Ho Chi Minh City). Currently, many other new urban areas are also focused on by investors to spend green areas to increase utilities for residents.

However, currently, the land fund for park development and planting trees in the inner city is very small and difficult to expand. Therefore, the development of trees is mainly planted on additional roads without trees. Architect Kevin Doan (overseas Vietnamese working in Singapore) said that the city can still increase the area of green space along the roads... On sidewalks of a certain width, just make enough walking paths ( 1.2-1.5m wide), the rest can be planted with trees and shrubs. Plants on the sidewalk can be arranged in 3 floors: high, medium and low.

According to architect Kevin Doan, for projects where investors propose green standards, state management agencies must require investors to ensure that the green area is equivalent to the land area. Specifically, the green area of the building is equal to the green area on the roof plus the green area on the facade. "This work in Singapore has been done very effectively and Ho Chi Minh City can be referenced because there are similarities in urban development," said architect Kevin Doan.

According to Doctor, architect Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Center for Architectural Research (Department of Planning and Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City), in addition to green areas from parks or on roads, no The green space along the water boundary has great potential because the city has a large area of rivers and canals. This advantage, if taken advantage of, can be well developed to characterize Ho Chi Minh City.

In particular, the area along the canals of Tau Hu - Ben Nghe, Doi - Te, Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canals ... can be combined with urban embellishment projects with enhanced multi-functional green areas, while creating a special landscape. and create space for entertainment, cultural and water tourism activities.

With the characteristics of Ho Chi Minh City, the green space and water surface must be considered as the "backbone" of a multi-functional green infrastructure and play the role of linking and integrating the functions of a system. sustainable infrastructure", said Dr., architect Nguyen Anh Tuan.

At a seminar on planning orientation and development of parks and green trees in the city recently, Politburo member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan requested to give the spend green trees in the Resolution of the upcoming 11th Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress. Right from now, the city will develop a plan to develop parks and green trees in the near future, with a vision that can be up to 25 years so that by 2045, the city will be greener, more beautiful, reaching the target of 6 -7m2 of trees/people.

Nearly 3,000 intellectuals petitioned to preserve Thuong Tho Palace.
Đình Sơn - dinhsonthanhnien@gmail.com
Mr. Ngo Viet Nam Son, a famous architect who has lived and worked abroad for many years, said that he and nearly 3,000 people lived and grew up in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamese people in and out of the country, foreigners love the city. This joint petition to the City People's Committee to stop the decision to demolish the Thuong Tho Palace to build an administrative headquarters.

Accordingly, architect Ngo Viet Nam Son and other experts, researchers, architects, etc., such as Nguyen Duc Hiep, a scientist and heritage researcher, Kevin Doan, architect Son Dang, Honorary Consul General of Finland in Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City Phung Anh Tuan, heritage and tourism researcher Tim Doling, Chairman of Heritage Radio Daniel Caune, architect Cao Thanh Nghiep... signed a petition sent directly to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the City People's Committee. proposed to cancel Gensler's plan to destroy Thuong Tho Palace.

If it is necessary to build an administrative center, it should be located in another new land location, rather than destroying the historical architecture in the central core. Put Thuong Tho Palace and historical architectures of People's Committee, City Theater, Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral into conservation. When restructuring the city, it is necessary to respect and connect with the heritage network at Nguyen Hue and Le Thanh Ton streets, Dong Khoi and Pasteur streets, where the Museum, Opera House, Independence Palace, People's Committee, House are located. Notre Dame Worship, General Library, Chi Lang Park, Bach Tung Diep Park.

The Thuong Tho Palace Building (now the headquarters of the Department of Information and Communications and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment) was built in 1860 in the French colonial architecture and is being discussed whether to dismantle or not. The reason for preserving Thuong Tho Palace, given by intellectuals, is that the palace was remodeled like the current building in 1882, before that from 1865 it was the administrative place to manage Saigon and Cochinchina, store the public works. documents, official gazettes, decrees, administrative records. The first national language newspaper Gia Dinh newspaper was also sent from here to the provinces and villages in Luc Tinh. For more than 130 years, through many ups and downs in history, the Thuong Tho Palace building at the corner of Dong Khoi and Ly Tu Trong streets is still standing while other historical and cultural architectures have disappeared.

From the perspective of planning and conservation, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hiep, a scientist and heritage researcher, said that the value of each ancient work cannot be separate from the whole ancient city of Ho Chi Minh City. Although the City People's Committee headquarters is intact in its architectural form, adding a new building block designed by Gensler will not be suitable and completely suppress the ancient space of the City People's Committee and the neighborhood of Ly Tu Trong, Dong Khoi and Pasteur. . Destruction of heritage means breaking planning, one of the key points creating imbalance and greatly affecting the population.

Thuong Tho Palace Building is considered the second oldest house, preserving many cultural and historical values of Saigon PHOTO: AN HUY

Up to now, the architecture of the People's Committee and Thuong Tho Palace is very unique in Southeast Asia, if it is assigned by Gensler to the same plan as the Unilever Headquarters building in Jakarta (Indonesia), it will lose its historical and specific value.

“The management of heritage and the Law on Heritage is having serious problems when Thuong Tho Palace is not on the list of preserved monuments, so it should be demolished. If so, ancient buildings such as Notre Dame Cathedral, Post Office ... which are not relics will also be demolished? While Singapore, with an area of 700km2, has 7,000 works, 72 areas, monuments and monuments are preserved compared to Ho Chi Minh City with an area of 2,000km2, which has just over 100 works and monuments”, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hiep asked. subject.

From an economic perspective, architect Ngo Viet Nam Son, said that HCMC's traffic jams and no heritage will reduce tourists, reduce shopping power, affect the business of commercial centers, causing direct consequences. and immediately to the city's tax revenue. Not only that, parking and traffic jams in the center of the city are problems with no way out, adding 1,700 employees and meetings will consume a lot of energy, contradicting the policy of "smart administration". It is very difficult for many agencies to ensure security in the event of an unexpected event.

"For the above reasons and because we are concerned that the historical heritage and urban memory of the city will be destroyed, we petition the City People's Committee to preserve Thuong Tho Palace to build an administrative headquarters," said the architect instead. recommendations from intellectuals.