Việt Nam to develop domestically and globally-connected smart cities

Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, Nguyễn Đức Hiển, speaks at the event. — Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI — A symposium on the development of domestically- and globally-connected smart cities took place in Hà Nội on Thursday.

The event, one of four seminars in the framework of the ongoing Vietnam Sustainable Urban Development Forum 2022, was jointly organised by the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, the Ministry of Construction and relevant agencies.

Addressing the seminar, Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, Nguyễn Đức Hiển, said that policies on developing smart cities had been set out in resolutions of the Party and projects of the Government.

He said that as many as 41 out of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide have or are developing smart urban development projects, while nearly 40 localities have developed several smart-city services.

However, Hiển noted that the deployment of smart cities in Việt Nam has only initially focused on smart-city services, while issues related to smart urban planning and construction management have not been addressed.

The role of people in joining the planning and operation of smart cities remains limited, he said.

Participants discussed and clarified issues about the need and role of smart city development, experience, successful models in smart city development, and specific solutions in planning, managing and operating smart cities.

According to Dr Trần Quốc Thái, Director of the Urban Development Agency, the construction of smart cities in association with the development of e-government and digital transformation has been bringing good initial results, contributing to processing administrative procedures at State agencies.

He underlined the need to enhance dialogue and exchange of experience in this work, saying that relevant agencies should urgently research and develop standards and manuals related to smart cities.

Another symposium on digital transformation and building synchronous and modern urban infrastructure to adapt to climate change was held on the same afternoon.

It offered a venue for policy-making and enforcing agencies, organisations, businesses and individuals, domestic and international experts and scientists to provide more scientific arguments and share practical experience for institutionalising and firming up the Party’s guidelines and policies on urbanisation and sustainable urban development. — VNS