The ‘city’ was established with a mandate to act as a center of innovation, research and high technology, and so received approval for the science department from the government following recommendations by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ho Chi Minh City administration.

The department is for Thu Duc to perform its position and role as a center of innovation and application of science and high technology as it has been designed from the beginning.

Thu Duc City was created in January through the merger of HCMC’s three eastern districts, 2, 9 and Thu Duc as a "city within a city" and is classified as a class-1 city administered by HCMC.

A class-1 city must have a population of one million if centrally administered, or 500,000 if administered by a province or city, a population density of at least 2,000 per square kilometer and a non-farm-labor ratio of more than 65 percent and 85 percent in its inner area. It also has to meet certain infrastructure and architectural requirements.

But as an administrative unit, Thu Duc is still a district.

It spreads over 211 square kilometers, has a population of more than 1.5 million and accounts for a third of HCMC’s economy and 7 percent of the country’s GDP.

With its important geographical location between the city, the industrial hub of Dong Nai Province and the maritime transport hub of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, it is expected to spearhead the development of the city and even the southeastern region.

It has a hi-tech park in District 9, the university precinct in the former Thu Duc District and an emerging new urban hub and financial center on the Thu Thiem Peninsula in District 2.