On the sidelines of the ASEAN Smart Cities Forum, Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha (pictured) shared information on smart urban development in Vietnam.

Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha

What do you think of the Smart Urban Development Strategy of Vietnam?

In recent years, Vietnam's urban development has achieved very important and positive results. However, the urban development process has also revealed major shortcomings such as environmental pollution, inundation, traffic congestion. These are huge challenges that we must overcome and must be handled effectively.

Vietnam defines smart urban development with three main pillars: planning and building smart cities, managing smart cities and implementing smart urban services and utilities based on information technology, large database and building an urban society with harmonious development, preserving fine traditions and cultural identities of the nation.

Smart urban development is an inevitable direction, in line with international trends, taking advantage of opportunities and achievements of the fourth industrial revolution as well as in accordance with the development of the country.

In the future, we will focus on synchronously and effectively deploying specific tasks and solutions identified in the Vietnam Smart City Development Project for the period 2018-2025 and vision to 2030.

The identified smart city will be able to solve the inadequacies in urban development. Piloting this model in some localities like Hue and Phu Quoc,how have breakthroughs been made in practice? By 2030, what adjustments should be made to suit Vietnam's conditions?

We see that many localities and cities are very interested in and clearly aware of the role, importance and effects of smart city development in the local Sustainable Urban Development Strategy and also consult, study and apply international experience to build their smart urban development projects.

But following our general observation, firstly, there are understandings that are not comprehensive and consistent in some fields. For example, it focuses on information technology, digitization in smart urban development, notfully and comprehensively aware of the necessary components to synchronously develop smart cities.

How did the Ministry of Construction refer to models around the world and what characteristics will the smart city model in Vietnam have compared to the reference models?

In the process of developing a smart city project in Vietnam for the period 2018 - 2025 with a vision to 2030, we refer to many international experiences of developed and developing countries; countries withgreat achievements in smart city development as well as research trends and orientations of countries and international organizations in the field of smart city development.

On that basis, it is possible to select and acquire international experiences consistent with the country's development reality, but this development must be suitable with Vietnam's identity, of which we really want to mention two points.

First, international experience does not currently address the field of smart city planning and construction. We believe that this is a very fundamental issue; it must be on an existing urban foundation that we can implement intelligent solutions for the organization of urban management and development. This is a new development of Vietnam.

Second, we pay great attention to the aspect of smart city development; we must pay attention to the problem of developing a society, a harmonious urban community with a good identity and promotion and have good traditional cultural values of the nation.

Currently, many cities and organizations realize that Vietnam's initiative is correct and they are also studying towards avoiding the abuse of technical achievements and scientific achievements in organizing the lives of dwellers. Avoid robotization that leads to limited the connection among residential communities is actually relations with humans.