In partnership with the Hanoi SCAC and NIURP (Ministry of Construction)

Experts: Hugues Leroux, Félix Damette, Christian Bouchaud

IMV staff assistant: Mai Linh Cam

This expert mission was carried out with co-financing from the Embassy of France (grant to IMV) and Ministry of Construction. Its purpose was to assist NIURP urban planners in the area of regional planning, a discipline heretofore given very little attention in Vietnam. The Hanoi region project (including 8 provinces, i.e. 12 million people living on 13,000 km²) is the first one undertaken by the government of Vietnam. Its purpose was to provide solutions to uncontrolled urban and industry expansion spawned by activity in Hanoi, as well as that in new regional economic centers such as Vinh Phuc, Hai Duong and Bac Ninh.

The mission identified various major constraints in terms of population (excessively high in agricultural areas), environment (omnipresence of water with attendant risks of pollution) and industrialization (too many industrial projects being undertaken on an unsound economic basis). This positioned it to base the master plan on an economic development project that would turn Hanoi into an international-level tertiary center, capturing value from its training, services and cultural assets. In the Red River delta, a balance must be struck between the development of a network of secondary cities with complementary industrial projects and maintaining strong rural activity based on non-agricultural employment in order to stem the rural exodus.

This study was submitted to Nguyen Hong Quan, minister of Construction, as well as to senior officials on the Hanoi People’s Committee. It forms part of the national debate on major strategic choices facing the region.