HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’sauthorities are drafting design and construction plans for urban areasalong the first metro route, which is slated to become operational at the endof 2021.

The municipal People’s Committee has set up a team to studypolicies to exploit public lands along the line, which runs between Ben ThanhMarket in District 1 and Suoi Tien Theme Park in District 9.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment and theDepartment of Planning and Investment are working with authorities inthe districts through which the line will run to carry out the studies.

Luong Thu Anh, head of the city Department of Planning andArchitecture’s central planning management division, said the city plans tolink public transport with urban development to save land and ensure publictransportation develops sustainably. 

The metro is expected to become the main mode of transport,and there would be hundreds of bus routes connecting its stations withresidential areas, industrial parks, universities, and research institutes, shesaid. 

People would be able to walk conveniently and safely onsidewalks, which would be designed with the hot, rainy climate of the south inmind, she added.

Experts said the city should earmark more public lands alongthe metro route for urban beautification in line with the plan to develop thenew Thu Duc City, and public transport should be predominant. 

It should also use the river landscapes to create publicspaces, they said.

The city also aims to develop high-rise apartments and otherresidential complexes along the metro route, especially in the city’s easternpart comprising districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc.

These projects must tackle city issues such as flooding andcongestion and improve its landscapes and residents’ quality of life.

Low-rises will gradually make way for high-rise housing alongthe metro line to ensure there is land for building new parks, parking lots andother public facilities.

The city’s authorities are also developing a planfor design and construction of underground spaces around metro stations. 

Ly Khanh Tam Thao, head of the Department of Planning andArchitecture’s technical infrastructure management division, said undergroundspaces full of state-of-the-art public facilities would be created, especiallynear the stations and the Ben Thanh Central Station. 

They would be developed into commercial centres over a periodof years, she said.

Museums and other cultural spaces and drainage and floodprevention works would also be built in them, she added. 

The Ben Thanh Central Station will be thehub of the city’s metro network with all the lines converging there.

The underground complex will be built on an area of45,000sq.m between the station and the Opera House. 

According to District 2 authorities, within a radius of 800mfrom Thao Dien and An Phu stations are six high-rise apartments, land plots andnumerous low-rise houses. 

There are also public areas such as the Thao Dien marketspreading over 1,700sq.m and the An Phu Swimming Club covering 3,674sq.mmanaged by the District Sports Centre.

There are two public lands measuring 3,600sq.m managed by thePeople’s Committee of Thao Dien Ward.

There are two more measuring 1,344sq.m managed by thePeople’s Committee of An Phu Ward. 

Thu Duc District will have five metro stations: Phuoc Long, BinhThai, Thu Duc, High-Tech Park, and Suoi Tien. 

In Binh Thanh District, there will be two stations, Van Thanhand Tan Cang, within 500-800m of which will be housings, factory lands andpublic lands./.