This is reflected in a revised master zoning plan to 2025 which Japanese consultant Nikken Sekkei and the HCMC Construction and Zoning Institute have completed and submitted to relevant ministries and agencies for comment.

Besides the parks that were listed in the master plan in 1998, the plan envisages the skyline along the banks of Saigon and Dong Nai rivers, a green beltway connecting Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh and Nha Be districts, and greenery along expressways.

Vietnamese and Japanese experts stressed the city would need a green beltway to protect itself, an appropriate strategy to ensure a good cityscape, links between downtown and outlying areas and good solutions to environmental problems.

The scheme also suggested the city not develop urban projects inside the 33,000-hectare mangrove forest biosphere reserve in the outlying district of Can Gio or in the protected forests in Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts.

As one of the senior experts commenting on the scheme, Ngo Trung Hai, deputy head of the Vietnam Institute for Architecture and Urban-Rural Planning under the Construction Ministry, said that besides defining the contribution of HCMC to the southern focal economic zones, the scheme should highlight the role of the city in connection with other cities in Asia-Pacific and relevant issues such as competitiveness between global cities. Hai suggested the consultants define areas for urban development, industrial zones, eco-tourism projects and rural areas for limited development.

Issues which may challenge the city’s development are climate change, high tides, lack of green space, pollution, poor infrastructure and ineffective use of land.

The newly adjusted plan sets a priority for four corridors linking the city with neighboring provinces.

The eastern corridor along the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway will link to urban areas in Dong Nai Province’s Nhon Trach City, Bien Hoa City and Long Thanh District. Meanwhile, the northwest corridor along National Highway 22 will link to urban areas in Long An Province’s Duc Hoa District, Tay Ninh Province’s Trang Bang District and Binh Duong Province’s Thu Dau Mot Township and Di An District.

The southern corridor connects urban areas along Nguyen Huu Tho Road and Hiep Phuoc Port. The southwest corridor along Nguyen Van Linh Road links to Binh Chanh District and southern urban areas.

On the sidelines of a conference on investment into HCMC last month, HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan told the Daily that the city was facing four key challenges, poor infrastructure, a lack of finances against the demand for economic re-structuring, poor management in the country’s largest city and social issues. He hoped the city’s adjusted master plan to 2025 would pave the way to the future with solutions to help the city with these challenges.

The master plan views HCMC as the center of the southern focal economic zone, which consists of HCMC and the neighboring provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tay Ninh, Long An, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tien Giang.

Under the plan, the city will develop the Tay Bac science park/urban residential area in District 9 and in Thu Duc District and the Hiep Phuoc port and urban area in Nha Be District.