HCMC to build satellite towns near metro, ring road

HCMC will review land planning along its metro line No.1 and Ring Road No.3 to develop satellite towns.

Announcing this at a city government meeting on Friday, Tran Quang Lam, director of its Department of Transport, said opinions are being collected now from related agencies for transit-oriented development (TOD).

In urban planning, TOD maximizes the residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport.

The model has been adopted in Japan, South Korea and Singapore and proven efficient.

The National Assembly recently passed a resolution granting HCMC more administrative autonomy, and the city can now trial the model and use its own funds to compensate and relocate landowners affected by the development of satellite towns.

Running 19.7 km between District 1 and Thu Duc City, the first metro line in HCMC is 95% finished and set for completion later this year and commercial operations next year.

The 90-km Ring Road 3 is under construction through the city and Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces.

It will run 47 km in HCMC.

Lam said TOD is urban development in association with major traffic hubs, and should either be developed first or together with traffic infrastructure projects.

« The model is a great opportunity for the city, but the NA has only granted the city autonomy for five years, and so it is necessary to speed up the work. »

Ha Minh Tan, head of the Urban Management Department of Nha Be District, said when developing plans for TOD, the city should only provide basic criteria such as the ratio of land for traffic, commerce and public space, and the details should be left to investors.

In May Shin Kimura of Japan’s Urban Renaissance Agency, a semipublic independent administrative institution responsible for housing, said HCMC needs to identify areas for building satellite towns to exploit the connectivity brought by its metro lines.

In Japan, the model has been applied along many metro routes and proved to be very efficient for urban development, he said.

Many metro stations are now modern urban areas comprising commercial centers, squares, parks, and parking lots to make commuting convenient and provide public utilities, he added.

By Gia Minh – VnExpress.net – August 11, 2023