Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Smart cities hold the answer to the modernworld's problems including rising population, pollution, traffic congestion,climate change and even global-scale disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic,according to experts.

Nearly half of ASEAN's population is in urban areas. In a forecast by the ASEANSmart Cities Network (ASCN), a collaborative platform which aims to synergisesmart city development efforts across ASEAN by facilitating co-operation, therewill be 90 million people living in cities across the region by 2030.

According to ASCN, those cities, with populations typically ranging from200,000 to 2 million, will account for as much as 40 percent of economic growthfor ASEAN countries.

However, rapid urbanisation has come with challenges such as traffic congestionand accidents, especially in large cities, which caused the region to lose outfrom 2-5 percent GDP growth annually. In addition, other pressing issues forlarge cities included worsening air and water quality, inadequate wastemanagement, rising poverty and crime.

IT infrastructure development

Countries should look to information technology (IT) for solutions, said Dr PhamKhanh Toan, head of the department of international co-operation under theMinistry of Construction (MoC).

Toan said IT and telecommunication infrastructure play a key role as citiesseek to meet such challenges. ASEAN countries may also learn valuable lessonsin developing smart cities from more advanced economies.

Dr Dao Thi Nhu from the MoC's urban development department said ASEAN's smartcities should develop a platform to cooperate and share experience in citydevelopment with a focus on sustainability. Vietnam is building three of thefirst 26 smart cities in the region: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

Nhu said the cities' objectives include increased living standards, buildingcompetitive economies and achieving environmental sustainability.

In August 2018, the Prime Minister's Office approved a project to develop smartcities in Vietnam for 2018-25 with a vision to 2030 in which the Governmentidentified three pillars of smart city-building: planning, management andutilities.

Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang City have seen the development of publicinfrastructure to provide residents services in education, health care,transportation, construction and environmental protection.

For example, more than 1,500 administrative procedures have been made availableonline in Hanoi. The capital has also rolled out an online health caremanagement system for nearly 1 million residents. More than 2,700 schools anduniversities in the city have implemented online communication channels betweenteachers and parents.

Notably, HCM City has been planning to establish Thu Duc city, a city made upof areas currently span District 2, District 9 and Thu Duc district. The newcity has been earmarked to become a financial hub and a research anddevelopment centre that may account for a third of HCM City's economic outputor 7 percent of the country's, said the city's Party leader Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Meanwhile, the city has been building itself as a financial centre in theregion to start providing financial services for neighbouring countries such asCambodia, Myanmar and Laos. There are currently more than 2,100 banking andcredit institutions in the city, the most in the country. Last year, HCM Cityaccounted for nearly a quarter of the country's capital raised with the HCMCity Stock Market Exchange made up 95 percent of total market capitalisationand some 54 percent of Vietnam's GDP./.