In the 10-year (2021-2030) housing development plan that has just been approved by the city, the limitations to new high-rise buildings will be applied in districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and Phu Nhuan.

Districts 1 and 3 are the heart of the biggest city in Vietnam. The districts and the remaining five have seen their population drop in the past decade.

According to the municipal construction department, which will execute the plan, the city’s decision to limit high-rise buildings in the seven districts comes from the fact that the demand for multi-storied buildings for condo projects is huge, but the infrastructure in many areas is inadequate. In these areas, the infrastructure and utilities system has been overloaded.

Deputies of the city People’s Council, the municipal legislature, have raised this concern over the years. They have observed that the high-rise buildings, usually a complex of condo projects, shopping malls and offices, have drawn way too many people to gather in the inner city, worsening traffic jams.

For example, in less than five years, a section little more than two kilometers (1.24 miles) long on Ben Van Don Street in District 4, which neighbors District 1, has seen as many as 12 high-rise condo projects and shopping malls with tens of thousands of square meters of condo housing and office space for lease.

According to official data, HCMC is set to have a population of 10.1 million by 2025, excluding migrants. Housing demand in the next five years is estimated at more than 81 million square meters and 68 million square meters.