The plan, drafted by the city-based Research and Development Institute (RDI), envisages among other things increasing the city’s average income per capita to 7,000 USD.

“It is very difficult to achieve this target in just 12 years,” Tran Du Lich, National Assembly deputy, said.

“It is around 2,500 USD now, very low compared with other developed cities in Asia . Solutions to all problems must be placed within the context of this target.”

Many attendees said the city should begin to focus on problems like traffic congestion, pollution, urban planning, and housing for the poor. “And any plans to develop the city must be feasible,” they warned.

The RDI’s plan lists 28 criteria for developing HCM City into a civilised, modern city based on socialism. It calls for efforts to be focused on areas like administrative reform, narrowing the wealth gap, providing more land for traffic, and setting up advanced medical facilities comparable with those in Singapore .

“We must develop a model that we will use to build our city in the coming years and also find ways to execute it,” People’s Committee deputy chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai said.

Tai urged EDI researchers to do comparative studies of Hanoi and Hai Phong and other major Asian cities like Shanghai , Singapore , Bangkok , and Kuala Lumpur.