HCM City (VNS/VNA) – The approved land-use masterplan for HCM City will have significant impact on the city’s development in thefuture, Nguyen Toan Thang, Director of the municipal Natural Resource andEnvironment Department, said.

Speaking at a meeting last weekend to announce theGovernment’s resolution No.80/2018 on the city’s adjusted land-use master planto 2020, Thang discussed the results of land use in the 2011-2015 period.

“The land-use master plan exploited land potential as animportant resource for urban development, but several goals have not beenreached, and there has been limited efficiency in land use as well asenvironmental protection,” he added.

Insufficient investment and site-clearance problems were themajor land-use problems facing the city, he said.

By the end of 2015, around 2,100 hectares of thecity’s urban land had not been transferred for land-use goals under theapproved master plan.

From now to 2020, the city’s agricultural land will beadjusted downward to 88,000 hectares compared with the 118,000 hectares in 2010.

Meanwhile, non-agricultural land has risen to nearly 189,000hectares, 1,080 hectares higher than the national target. In 2010, it coverednearly 91,000 hectares.

The land used for infrastructure development in the city isestimated to total around 35,000 hectares, an increase of 15,233 hectares incomparison with 2015. Residential land in the urban area will cover 1,250hectares.

To implement the adjusted master plan, Thang suggestedfocusing on five solutions: investment, policies, climate change adaptation,agricultural land fund protection, and implementation.

Thang said the city would also prioritise investments in foursatellite urban areas.

In the east, the satellite urban area will be located in LongTruong ward in District 9 near the HCM City - Long Thanh – Dau Giayexpressway, on a total area of 280 hectares.

In the west, the satellite urban area will be located in Tan Kien commune in BinhChanh district near National Highway Number 1, on a total area of 200 hectares.

In the south, it will be located in the A zone in the South SaiGon Urban Area with the backbone road of Nguyen Huu Tho Boulevard, on a totalarea of 110 ha.

And in the north, it will be located in the North-West urbanarea near National Road 22, on a total area of 500 hectares.

To limit the traffic flow to the downtown area, the city willalso invest in transportation to connect residential areas and the metrosystem, now under construction; and public welfare works like schools,hospitals and entertainment facilities.

“The adjusted land-use master plan has updated many standardsin urgent fields, especially for climate change, which has become more seriousin HCM City,” said Hoang Tung, deputy director of the municipal Master Plan andArchitecture Department.

“During the 2020 – 2025 period, half of the land in HCM Citywill be used for urbanisation,” he added.-VNS/VNA