Urbanisation, environment, development, and urban policies in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Thanh Le Van, Institute for Economic Research

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest urban agglomeration in Viet Nam. The development and the concentrations of people and industries in the inner city pose a fundamental challenge to the development of adequate infrastructure and the maintenance of healthy environments. In this context, public authorities are confronted with problems of the degradation of urban environment in HCMC. The purpose of this paper is to propose alternative solutions for environment protection. Hence, the environmental policies could not be applied efficiently without mentioning the urban management policies, particularly the policy on population deconcentration. This paper is not only an analyse of works already realized but also research findings from a quantitative survey on Changes in socio-economic conditions of about 500 households in recent years (1998-2004), in study areas which represent different levels of urbanisation and qualitative surveys on authority opinions. More than that, some measures on environmental technics (water, air...) have been realized.