Quick Takeaways
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Strategic Commitment: The Vietnamese government, through the Ministry of Construction, is dedicated to transitioning towards green, smart, and sustainable urban development, rooted in the “Vietnam Sustainable Smart Urban Development Project” initiated in 2018.
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Notable Progress: Significant advancements in smart city initiatives include urban planning, service delivery, and enhanced ICT systems, benefiting citizens and businesses nationwide, despite existing challenges.
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Challenges Identified: Key hurdles for smart city development consist of fragmented data systems, insufficient human resources, regulatory constraints, and limited private sector collaboration, impacting effective governance.
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Future Directives: The MoC emphasizes enhancing the legal framework, developing a national urban data warehouse, leveraging technology for governance, and fostering public-private partnerships to ensure integrated and sustainable smart city growth by 2030.
Major Progress Made
Vietnam’s smart city development project has shown initial success after nearly seven years. Launched in 2018, the initiative emphasizes green, smart, and sustainable urban growth. Recently, the Ministry of Construction (MoC) highlighted key achievements at a conference on August 13. The project established smart urban planning and efficient management of city resources. It also enhanced services in transportation, healthcare, and education. With the MoC’s collaboration, guidelines and frameworks for smart city growth emerged across various cities and provinces.
Moreover, the establishment of a National Construction and Urban Planning Information System facilitates access to vital planning information. Local governments actively utilize land databases to streamline residence-related procedures. Citizens benefit from improved service delivery and transparency, while businesses enjoy better investment opportunities. This progress aligns closely with the national digital transformation efforts.
Hurdles Remain
Despite positive advancements, challenges persist in smart city development. The MoC identified issues related to data sharing and integration. Current databases remain fragmented and incomplete, complicating efforts for comprehensive information access. Additionally, human resources are inadequate, lacking a solid policy framework for workforce development.
Fragmented collaboration with the private sector also hampers growth. Urban governance challenges, particularly at the ward level, necessitate a redefinition of responsibilities for smart city initiatives. Ongoing revisions to urban laws further complicate the regulatory landscape. Stakeholders agree that effective governance and collaboration across multiple sectors are essential for achieving the shared national goal of developing smart cities. The focus should be on enhancing legal frameworks and establishing clear mechanisms for public-private partnerships.
As Vietnam continues its journey toward smart city development, technology should merely serve as a tool, while efficient governance remains the real challenge.
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