Ho Chi Minh City should learn from major cities in developed countries on how to become a smart city, an international conference was told on Friday.
Nearly 200 delegates from Thailand, the US, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, discussed ways the largest city in Vietnam could become a smart city.
Read more: VN: Ho Chi Minh City urged to study other smart cities
Amid growing interest from domestic and international businesses, Hanoi will create new opportunities for private investors to join public service projects as a way to raise funds for its ambitious smart city development plans.
Nguyen Duc Chung, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, said that the capital is poised to become a smart city based on key technologies of Industry 4.0. To this end, besides state funding, the city will have to raise resources from the business community.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam today witnessed the signing of the Partnership Framework between Vietnam’s Office of Government (OOG) and the World Bank.
The framework is to express their intent to collaborate in the modernization and strengthening of government effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.
Read more: VN: OOG, WB join forces to deliver on administrative procedure, e-government reforms
The coastal city of Danang in Vietnam, is famed for its white sandy beaches and idyllic resorts and is Vietnam’s fifth largest city. Home to more than a million residents, the city is rapidly urbanising and its population is set to more than double to 2.5 million by 2030.
Danang joins 25 other pilot cities from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN). Set to be officially launched in November 2018 during the 33rd ASEAN Summit in Singapore, the ASCN envisions a collaborative platform for cities in the network to work towards a common goal of smart and sustainable development.
Facing the great waves of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Vietnam is keen on promoting e-government projects, and the government there has selected five main cities, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang, as pilot sites for smart city development, covering clean energy, environmental protection and transportation, according to Truong Gia Binh, chairman of FPT Group, the largest information technology service company in the country.
Binh told Digitimes in a recent exclusive interview that the information technology service market scale in Vietnam is estimated at US$16 billion a year, with an annual growth of 13% seen in 2017.
Read more: Vietnam focusing on smart city development, says FPT chairman