Laws of Vietnam

DECISION No.10/1998/QD-TTg OF JANUARY 23, 1998 TO APPROVE THE ORIENTATIONS OF THE MASTER PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAM'S URBAN CENTERS TILL 2020.

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Regulation on the Management of Urban Planning issued together with Decree No. 91-CP of August 17, 1997 of the Government;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction (Official Dispatch No. 42/BXD-KTQH of August 16, 1996),

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the orientations of the master plan for the development of Vietnam's urban centers till 2020 with the following principal contents:

I. REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS AND GOALS:

1. Regarding the concepts:

In order to serve the targets of accelerating national industrialization and modernization, sustaining economic, social and cultural development, maintaining security and defense and protecting the ecological environment, the formation and development of urban centers around the country till 2020 must:

- Comply with the distribution and development level of the production forces throughout the country, concentrate on building a solid economic and technical base serving as a motive force for the development of each urban center.

- Rationally arrange large, medium and small urban centers, creating a balanced development among the different territorial regions and combine the acceleration of rural urbanization with the construction of new rural areas.

- Have an integrated infrastructure of a suitable or modern level, depending on the requirements of the exploitation and utilization of various areas within each urban center.

- Ensure a stable and sustainable development on the basis of a rational organization of the living environment and environmental protection.

- Combine the renovation of existing constructions with the building of new ones; combine the preservation of the national cultural identity and traditions with the application of new scientific and technological advances to modernize the country.

- Consolidate security, defense and social safety.

- Tap all sources of capital for upgrading and building urban centers while importance must be attached to maintaining order and discipline and intensifying control of the urban development in accordance with the master plan and law.

2. Regarding the goals:

To gradually construct and perfect the national urban network that has modern economic, social and technical infrastructure, a clean urban environment and is rationally arranged and developed nationwide, ensuring that each urban center shall, depending on its location and functions, bring into full play its strengths and contribute to well implementing the two strategic tasks of building socialism and safeguarding the Fatherland.

II. REGARDING THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATIONS TILL 2020:

1. Functions of urban centers in the national urban network:

- Large urban centers shall play the role of economic, political, cultural, eco-technical and training centers and act as junctions of regional, national and international communications and exchange.

- Medium and small centers shall assume the functions of economic, cultural and service hubs of regions.

- Townships shall be economic, cultural and service centers for communes or clusters of communes in order to step up the process of rural urbanization and building of new rural areas.

2. Forecasts of population growth rates:

- At present: the country's urban population now stands at over 15 million, making up about 20% of the national population;

- By 2000, the urban population shall be 19 million, accounting for 22% of the national population;

- By 2010, the urban population shall be 30.4 million, accounting for 33% of the national population;

- By 2020, the urban population shall be 46 million, accounting for 45 % of the national population.

3. Demand of the urban land use:

- At present: The country's total urban land area covers 63,000 hectares, accounting for 0.2% of its total area, 45 m2 per head on average;

- By 2000, the total urban land area shall reach 114,000 hectares, representing 0.35% of the country's natural land area, 60 m2 per head on average;

- By 2010, the total urban land area shall reach 243,200 hectares, representing 0.74% of the country's natural land area, 80 m2 per head on average;

- By 2020, the total urban land area shall reach 460,000 hectares, representing 1.4% of the country's natural land area, 100 m2 per head on average.

4. Regarding the selection of land for urban development:

To ensure in-depth development on the basis of using the existing land fund which has not been used or has been used ineffectively in urban centers; to gradually expand urban centers to their outskirts and build, depending on the conditions of each area, satellite cities or parallel cities in affluent areas of big cities; to speed up the building of new urban centers in undeveloped areas and at the same time urbanize rural population areas.

5. Regarding the territorial distribution of the national urban network:

a/ Building and rationally distributing central cities in different territorial areas:

- The national urban network which is formed and developed on the basis of central cities, including five national-level central cities of national grade such as Hanoi capital, Ho Chi Minh city, the cities of Hai Phong, Da Nang and Hue; and 11 central cities of regional grade such as the cities of Can Tho, Bien Hoa, Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Buon Ma Thuot, Vinh, Nam Dinh, Ha Long, Viet Tri, Thai Nguyen and Hoa Binh; and other provincial cities and towns; the district-level central townships, including district townships and provincial towns which are specialized central areas of the provinces and sub-regional central cities, and district townships which are centers of rural population clusters or satellite cities in the affluent areas of big cities.

- The central cities of various grades are rationally arranged in 10 typical urbanized regions nationwide, including the Northern and Red River key economic region; the southern and eastern South Vietnam key economic region; the Central Vietnam and central Central Vietnam key economic region; the Mekong Delta region; the southern Central Vietnam (Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan); the Central Highland region; the northern Central Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh); the region of Cao Bang, Lang Son, Ha Bac and Bac Thai; the region of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Vinh Phu and the north-western region.

- The large central cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang, etc., must be organized into city clusters protected with the green belts to minimize the over-concentration of population, economic establishments and the ecological imbalance and to avoid the formation of super cities.

b/ Regarding the land use planning:

The urban construction planning must ensure that functional quarters and infrastructure are closely inter-related to satisfy the people's increasing material and spiritual demands.

c/ Regarding urban architecture:

To formulate typical architectural physiognomy, contributing to the image of modern and civilized cities compatible with the country's status in the period of industrialization and modernization; on this basis, to perform simultaneously two key tasks of inheriting, protecting, renovating and preserving historic and cultural heritage as well as valuable architectural works while developing the culture of new and modern urban architecture characterized by national identity.

6. Regarding technical infrastructure development:

a/ To give priority to the development and modernization of infrastructures that link cities with rural population areas on the national scale as well as in key economic regions, creating a premise for the formation and development of cities and rural urbanization and ensuring close relations with the countries in the region and in the world and the smooth and uninterrupted communications under any weather condition on important and backbone routes as well as branch roads linking cities to various regions and mountainous centers.

The power and water supply, traffic, information and communications must be balanced in each territorial region according to the urban development requirements and level.

b/ To renovate and build the technical infrastructure in cities such as traffic, power and water supply, waste water drainage, information and communications in a comprehensive manner and to suitable or modern level and quality, depending on the development requirements and level of each city, satisfying to the utmost the demands of production and social life.

7. Regarding the protection of the urban environment and natural landscapes and the preservation of the urban ecological balance.

- To build and maintain the nature protection network including natural forests, the system of national gardens, trees and water surface, etc., all over the country, in each region and each city;

- To rationally exploit and use natural resources, land funds, water, minerals, forests, etc., for urban renovation and construction;

- To draw a rational plan on functional regions, ensuring the satisfaction of individuals' and the entire society's needs of accommodation, working places, travel, rest and recreation;

- To take measures to treat and re-use wastes discharged from everyday life and production activities with the application of appropriate technologies and techniques.

III. REGARDING THE CONTENTS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT IN THE FIRST PHASE TILL 2005:

1. The programs and investment projects on urban renovation and construction shall concentrate on the following prioritized major fields:

a/ Investing in the development of the production infrastructure, industrial parks and labor-intensive centers ensuring the stable economic growth in urban centers, creating conditions for the economic restructuring along the direction of industrialization and modernization, raising budget revenues and generating jobs for laborers.

b/ Investing in the development and modernization of the technical and social infrastructure, creating an attractive environment for investment, improving the people's living conditions and accelerating the process of narrowing the gaps between urban and rural areas;

c/ Investing in the improvement of the environmental sanitation, the preservation of the historical and cultural values of each city, the environmental protection, the balancing of the urban ecology in cities and the construction of green, clean and beautiful cities;

d/ Investing in cities in accordance with the master plan, plans and laws.

2. Urban development policies, mechanisms and measures:

On the basis of firmly grasping the policy on the development of a multi-sector economy operating under the State-regulated market mechanism, in the immediate future to focus on the implementation of the following urban development policies, mechanisms and measures:

a/ Strengthening the effect of the urban management apparatus, renewing the urban development policies and mechanisms in various State administrative management fields, the management of the master plan, the management of land and houses, the investment and construction management; the management of the exploitation and utilization of urban projects, creating a substantial change in the national urban network;

b/ Formulating policies on and solutions to the capital generation on the basis of effectively using the source of State capital, domestic and foreign sources of capital for urban infrastructure development. Studying a mechanism to generate revenues and the formulation of urban infrastructure development funds;

c/ Continuing to perfect and renew policies on urban housing and land so as to stabilize the people's life and create resources for urban development;

d/ Elaborating and perfecting policies on urban planning and architecture, gradually formulating a modern urban architecture strong with national identity and, at the same time, intensifying the renovation and construction of urban centers to ensure their orderly and planned development in accordance with the master plan and laws.

e/ Strengthening the policy on urban environmental management to ensure the stable and sustainable development of urban centers in the context of accelerated industrialization and modernization. Taking measures to promote and maintain the movement of preserving green, clean and beautiful cities in urban centers.

Article 2.- Basing themselves on the orientations for the urban development master plan already approved, the Ministry of Construction, the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall conduct a review of the general planning of cities, draw up detailed planning of areas to be constructed for the first phase till 2005 and submit them to the competent levels for approval in accordance with current regulations; organize the formulation and implementation of investment projects for a comprehensive urban development in line with the socio-economic development master plan, the industrial and infrastructural development master plan for the period 1996-2010 and the general plannings for various branches already approved by the Prime Minister.

Article 3.- The Minister of Construction shall have to direct the presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government to organize the management of the construction of urban centers according to the approved master plan, maintaining order and discipline and put the urban construction management into order.

Article 4.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decision.

The Prime Minister