Thu Duc City to commence operations in a day

A meeting on Friday will elect personnel for Thu Duc City’s legislative arm, or People’s Council, and its executive unit, People’s Committee, according to Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Home Affairs.

Thu Duc City came to life on Dec. 9 after the National Assembly greenlighted its establishment as "a city within a city" in HCMC.

The new city was formed by merging three eastern districts - 2, 9 and Thu Duc.

As planned, the former District 2 People’s Committee office would serve Thu Duc City’s new committee and council, while that of District 9 hosts the new city’s Party Committee. Thu Duc District's admin offices would merge into other administrative city units.

In its initial phase, the administrative apparatus of Thu Duc would employ 657 staff and after 2025, 459.

Thu Duc City spreads across 211 square kilometers and houses more than a million people. It is expected to contribute 30 percent of the city’s economic growth and 7 percent for the nation's per year.

Once the new city starts running, HCMC would have a sub-city and 21 districts.

Thu Duc is expected to function as an "innovative urban area" encompassing the hi-tech park in District 9, the university precinct in Thu Duc District and the new urban area and financial center on Thu Thiem Peninsula in District 2, helping fulfill HCMC’s plans to become a smart city.

HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said late last year once it is established, Thu Duc would help streamline the city apparatus, with around 644 officials leaving the service.

According to the government resolution submitted last year to the NA, the strong development of all three districts in terms of banking, finance, industry, commerce, services and tourism, along with rapid urbanization and increasing population density, "has prompted the demand for reorganization, through their merger into one administrative unit."

With the establishment of Thu Duc City, HCMC can contribute even more to the nation’s economic growth and boost the development of Southern Key Economic Zone (SKEZ), which comprises HCMC, the industrial hubs of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, the cash crop province of Binh Phuoc, the maritime transportation center of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tay Ninh Province, and two Mekong Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Long An.