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Sunday, May 23, 2010

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, URBANIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM: RELATIONS AND POLICIES

LE Van Thanh
Institute for Economic Research
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Paper presented to the PRIPODE workshop on
Urban Population, Development and Environment Dynamics in Developing Countries
11-13 June 2007
Nairobi, Kenya

In recent years, urbanization has been taking place rapidly and vigorously in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). As a reason of the implementation of Doi moi policy2 in many fields, the economic growth of HCMC has amounted up to over 11% in almost every year for the past decade. A lot of industrial and export-processing zones as well as new residential areas were established, accelerating urbanization, economic transformation, and development of HCMC. The population has been also continually increasing, estimated to be over 7 millions persons3, with the annual growth rate 3,5% per year, of which migrants make up about a third. Due to the urban development history, the City population is not allocated equally all over the City. The population density in the inner City is over 30,000 persons per a square kilometer; whereas the density in suburban and rural areas of the City is much lower. The City area is 2,000 square kilometers, of which 104 km2 is the inner City; 600 km2 is the outskirts; and a large area is the rural. Establishment of new urban districts (from previous rural districts) since 1997 may be seen as a hallmark of the City’s vigorous urbanization.
Reviewing the City’s development for the past 10 years (1997 – 2007), we can see that urbanization has caused both positive and negative impacts on socio-economic, demographic and environmental fields in all different geographic areas of Ho Chi Minh City.

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