Can Tho urged to become a smart city in 10 years

Speaking at a seminar held in the Mekong Delta city earlier this week, the committee’s Chairman, Nguyen Thien Nhan, said the resolution would identify 10 tasks, including developing a common data base for use by the public, businesses and State agencies.

There are 17 sectors for which the data should be developed - population, labour and family, water supply, investment, industry, agriculture, construction and housing, trade, tourism, transport, environment, education and training and human resources development, science and technology, health, social and health insurance and social security - he said.

It would be used to draft the city’s smart zoning plan, he said.

The city has to review and upgrade zoning plans once in six months, and by doing this it would have forecasts for its development for the next five years, he said.

It should focus on improving its economic efficiency and developing indexes for provincial competitiveness, labour productivity, water resources, human resources and culture, he said.

Last year Can Tho ranked third behind HCM City and Hanoi in labour productivity among the country’s five centrally administered cities.

It ranked 14th in the Provincial Competitiveness Index.

But the city’s dynamism and competitiveness – two of the most important criteria in a market economy – ranked below the national average.

This year the city’s economy has grown at 7.5%, according to its People’s Committee.