HCM City hopes to add more green space

Under the city's general urban plan for the period up to 2025, the green space per capita will be 2.4sq.m in the inner areas and 12sq.m in outlying areas. Currently it is less than 1sq.m. Besides, the greenery is not distributed evenly, resulting in many residential areas having little.

Binh Tan, which with 670,000 people is the most thickly populated district, does not have a large park.

An area zoned for a park in sub-zone No. 3 in Binh Tri Dong residential area, for instance, has still to be built into one more than 20 years later.

Similarly, the 37ha Go Vap District Culture Park was zoned in 2001 but has yet to be built.

Nguyen Thanh Toan, Deputy Director of the city Department of Planning and Architecture, told Nguoi Lao Dong (the Labourer) newspaper that the green space available is too little compared to the need.

His department has tried to identify vacant land areas to develop green spaces, but there are few vacant, he said.

The city does not have the financial capacity to build large green parks even in designated areas, and so focuses on developing green space in housing projects, he said.

However, many housing and urban projects have not created green space and even appropriated areas zoned for it to build commercial facilities, he said.
The department would petition the city People's Committee and the Ministry of Construction to only allow apartments to be sold after technical and social infrastructure is in place, he said.

The People's Committee has instructed relevant agencies to improve oversight of urban construction in 2015-20.

Many projects have been put into use without creating infrastructure like roads, healthcare facilities, physical training and sports facilities, and green parks, it said.