Bringing into play the spirit of national resistance, the thousand-year tradition of culture of Thang Long - Hanoi, and tremendous achievements in 35 years of national renewal, Party Organisation, authorities, troops, and citizens of Hanoi are devoting effort to overcoming difficulties and challenges, fostering rapid, sustainable development, and determinedly building a region- and world-class green, smart, modern capital city.

Hanoi Capital City, the heart of the whole country, is Vietnam’s national political, administrative hub and a big centre of economy, culture, science, education, and international trade. In Hanoi’s history of construction and protection, particularly in the resistance war against the French, responding to the “Appeal for National Resistance” by President Ho Chi Minh, troops and citizens of the capital city rose up against French colonialists and commenced the resistance war. Troops and citizens of Hanoi courageously fought the enemy with creative, effective battles in Dong Xuan market, Ha Dong town, Bach Mai airport, and Gia Lam airport, thereby making significant contributions to pinning the enemy down and creating a favourable condition for our key offices to move up to bases safely. After 9 years of resistance, troops and citizens of Hanoi cooperated with main military units in forming powerful armies to liberate and take control of the capital city as an immortal epic.

Promoting the tradition of “sacrificing for the Homeland” in the resistance war against the French, together with Northern provinces, Hanoi continued providing human and material resources for the South in the war against US imperialists; troops and citizens of the capital city worked with the National Air Defence Force to defeat all air operations by U.S. B-52 bombers and safeguard the airspace of Hanoi, thus greatly contributing to the victory of the resistance war against America, for national salvation.

In the period of national renewal, especially after 20 years of executing the Politburo’s Resolutions 15-NQ/TW and 11-NQ/TW (8th and 11th tenure) on developing the capital city and 13 years of implementing the 12th National Assembly’s Resolution 15/2008/QH12 on adjusting administrative boundaries of the capital city, Hanoi has developed rapidly, comprehensively to deserve to be the country’s political, administrative, economic, cultural, educational, scientific, and technological centre. The political system within Hanoi has been regularly consolidated to be capable of leading and managing the society. Party organisations’ sense of unity, political zeal, knowledge, and responsibility have become a trait of the capital city in recent years. Hanoi’s economic growth rate has constantly remained high. The capital city’s business and investment environment has unceasingly improved. Hanoi has always taken the lead in attracting foreign direct investment (8.05 billion USD in 2019). Social security has been ensured. The average per capita income is about 5,420 USD per annum, a 1.5-fold increase compared with 2015. A lot of large-scale constructions and socio-economic development projects have been accomplished. There have been many positive changes in urban planning, management, and discipline, environmental protection, social order, and traffic safety. Culture, education and training, and science and technology have been robustly developed. Defence and security have been consolidated. Diplomatic ties with other countries’ capitals and cities have been increasingly expanded and deepened. Hanoi’s status and prestige have been raised to deserve to be the country’s diplomatic centre. Currently, Hanoi is maintaining its relations with more than 100 cities and capitals around the world. It has signed cooperation agreements with 60 capitals and cities across the globe. It has established economic relations with nearly 200 countries and territories.

However, a number of complex issues during the capital city’s development process have yet to be completely resolved. Several party committees, authorities, offices, and sectors have yet to fulfil their task. Besides, Hanoi is always confronted with natural disasters, epidemics, and hostile forces’ drastic sabotage.

The second Plenum of 16th Municipal People’s Council of Hanoi             (photo: kinhtedothi.vn)

Rapid, complicated, and unpredictable developments in the world and the region and non-traditional security challenges, especially COVID-19 pandemic are posing threats to the capital city’s construction and development and necessitating Hanoi’s Party Organisation, authorities, and citizens heightening a sense of unity to determinedly build an increasingly civilised, prosperous, and modern capital city.

Aspirations for a “Green, Smart, Modern” Hanoi

When it comes to present-day Hanoi, Vietnamese people and international friends will imagine the capital city with great potential and mental and material strength, heroic tradition, noble qualities, landslide military exploits, and tremendous achievements as a “capital city of conscience and human dignity,” a “city for peace,” and a “creative city.” This is an opportunity to promote the capital city’s image in all creative, cultural fields and turn Hanoi into Southeast Asia’s “creative capital” and a destination of knowledge and creativity of the world.

With a strategic vision, political resolve, and aspirations for a region- and world-class Hanoi, the capital city’s Party Organisation, authorities, and people have determined that by 2025 the Municipal Party Organisation will have great leadership capacity and combativeness together with a pure, strong, typical political system, while Hanoi will foster rapid, sustainable development in a green, smart, modern direction. By 2030, Hanoi will become a “green, smart, modern” city. By 2045, the quality of citizens’ life will be high; Hanoi’s economic, cultural, and social development will be comprehensive and sustainable; Hanoi will be a global city, with GRDP per capita of over 36,000 USD.

Shaping a smart city

Hanoi has advocated the building of a smart city in order to deal with an increase in population density, medical, educational, and traffic overcrowding, shortcomings in urbanisation and housing development, energy security issues, and environmental pollution, facilitate urban governance, improve the quality of its citizens’ life, and create more human values for the community. Those are urgent needs and goals of the capital city. Hanoi’s road map for building a smart city includes three phases. In the phase I (2018-2020), Hanoi established core components of a smart city, such as infrastructure, database, e-government, and smart educational, medical, traffic, tourist, environmental, and security systems. In the phase II (2020-2025), Hanoi has been basically completing its smart systems, encouraging the people’s management, and forming a digital economy. In the phase III (after 2025), Hanoi will develop a smart city at a higher level, with features of a knowledge-based economy.

In the phase I, Hanoi focused on building and developing foundations of an e-government towards a digital government, and fostering e-commerce as the basis for establishing a future digital economy. Telecommunication infrastructure was constructed and developed in a modern, safe way. Hanoi achieved a basic breakthrough in information technology, while employing information technology within a single system in an overall, synchronous direction in tandem with an urban governance model. It should be noted that the capital city successfully introduced online public services at third and fourth levels and one-door software used for three-level administration. Hanoi finished integrating all 249 online public services into the National Public Service Portal. Hanoi also actively applied science and technology to handling a number of urban issues of urgency and creating components of a smart city, with priority given to developing smart traffic, tourist, medical, and environmental systems. Additionally, the success of Hanoi in the fight against COVID-19 resulted from significant contributions of smart platforms.

Furthermore, Hanoi has attached great value to the work of urban planning, construction, management, and development together with a lot of considerable positive changes in smart urban infrastructures and housing systems, such as The Manor, My Dinh, An Khanh, Ciputra, Vinhomes Riverside, Royal City, and Times City, greatly contributing to civilising and modernising the capital city. Currently, Hanoi is stepping up the development of its northward urban areas along Nhat Tan - Noi Bai route with some major projects, such as Kim Quy Park, National Exhibition and Trade Fair Centre, and North Hanoi Smart City, while gradually developing itself into a super smart city based on new technologies and cultural, civilised, modern citizens. In the upcoming time, Hanoi will focus on developing smart urban technical infrastructures (smart lighting, water and sewerage, and traffic systems) and setting up smart residential areas to build a smart, modern capital city.

Joining hands to develop Hanoi rapidly, sustainably towards a green, smart, modern capital city

To realise those above-mentioned targets, in the medium term, Hanoi will continue effectively executing 10 major programmes and creating a huge, synchronous, comprehensive change in the Party building and rectification and the building of a pure, strong, typical political system and a compact, efficient apparatus. It will adopt measures to pilot the urban governance model and consolidate rural authorities. It will take advantage of international integration and especially achievements of the 4th industrial revolution to drastically renew its growth model. It will apply scientific and technological advances to restructuring its economy in tandem with realising three strategic breakthroughs. It will keep perfecting the socialist-oriented market economy and policies to maximise all available resources for its economic growth. Importance will be attached to concretising and piloting several specialised finance - budget mechanisms and policies for the capital city. Hanoi will harmoniously manage the relationship between economic growth, cultural-social development, and protection of natural resources and environment. It will raise the quality of social administration, ensure social security, improve its citizens’ material and mental life, and narrow the living standard gap between its urban and rural areas. It will continue fundamentally, comprehensively renewing education, training, science, and technology, while developing high-quality human resources to meet the requirements set by its industrialisation, modernisation, and international integration. Significance will be attached to bringing into play the thousand-year tradition of culture of Thang Long - Dong Do - Hanoi and the titles, namely “City for Peace” and “Creative City” to develop the capital city’s culture and people. Due attention will be paid to building elegant, civilised, law-abiding, patriotic Hanoians with a sense of national pride and aspirations for the country’s development as an enormous source of internal strength for the capital city’s development. 

Hanoi will improve the quality of urban planning and planning management and raise the effectiveness of urban and population management, social discipline and order, and traffic safety. It will concentrate its resources on effectively implementing Programme 03-CTr/TU on “urban embellishment and economic development in the period of 2021 - 2025” and Programme 05-CTr/TU on “enhancing planning work and planning management, raising the efficiency of natural resource use and environmental protection, proactively preventing and responding to natural disasters and climate change within Hanoi City in the period of 2021-2025” to contribute to developing Hanoi rapidly, sustainably towards a green, smart, modern city. It will continue making the capital armed forces comprehensively strong, with priority given to modernising a number of forces, building the all-people national defence posture associated with the people’s security posture, opportunely, effectively dealing with situations, avoiding passivity, maintaining political stability and social order and safety, and ensuring the absolute safety of central and municipal headquarters and major political events of the country and the world. It will expand its diplomatic ties, enhance international cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, proactively integrate itself into the world, and raise its status in the international arena.

With its political resolve, scientific road map, proper approaches, and cautious steps, Hanoi will develop into a green, smart, modern city to make worthy contributions to fulfilling the nation’s aspirations for a mighty Vietnam and a prosperous capital city as President Ho Chi Minh ever instructed: “The whole country looks to our capital city. The world also looks to our capital city. All of us must strive to maintain order and security to turn our Hanoi into a peaceful, beautiful, and both physically and mentally healthy capital city.”

DINH TIEN DUNG, Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Hanoi