Hue City will expand in the east - west and north - south directions, with the main landscape axis of the Huong River
Expanding the space
Despite its early formation and development, Hue is now one of the cities with the smallest area in Vietnam. According to the regulations promulgated by the National Assembly, the provincial cities must have a minimum population of 150,000 and a natural area of 150 km2 and over. Hue is currently the first-class city of the province with a population of over 350,000 but an area of just over 70 km2.
After the Liberation Day, the authorities repeatedly sought to expand Hue but lack a master plan. Therefore, there happened the cases such as some localities in Huong Thuy, Huong Tra or Phu Vang: no sooner had these localities been planned to be directly under the city government than they had to revert to being under the district government.
The Project “Building and developing Hue City till 2030 and partially adjusting the general planning of Hue City to 2030, with a vision to 2050” has been developed and is in the process of collecting comments for completion. The scope of Hue urban expansion includes existing Hue City (70.67km²) and part of the Huong Thuy, Huong Tra towns, Phu Vang District, with an area of about 348.54km², 5 times larger than today.
City of heritage, ecology
At the conference "Building and developing Thua Thien Hue Province to 2030, with a vision to 2045" organized by the Central Economic Committee in coordination with the Provincial Party Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, Member of the Politburo, Head of the Central Economic Committee emphasized that it is very difficult to make Thua Thien Hue Province a city directly under the Central Government. 10 years has elapsed, but this target has not been achieved yet.
Also according to Mr. Binh, it is more suitable and feasible to develop Hue into a heritage city under the Central Government although there is not a set of criteria for this type of city yet. Thua Thien Hue determines to build and develop Hue City into a heritage city - a city directly under the Central Government in the direction of "Heritage, culture, ecology, landscape and environmental-friendliness".
Hue City will expand in the east - west and north - south directions, with the main landscape axis of the Huong River.
Many experts are of the opinion that when Hue City is developed as planned, the Huong River space axis connecting from the mountain to the sea will be perfected. With the Huong River axis, sub-urban areas on both sides of the river will be developed, and the pressure on heritage urban area will be relieved.
A model of urban cluster forms with the Hue City center and four auxiliary towns, namely Huong Thuy, Tu Ha, Thuan An and Binh Dien. This development direction makes Thuan An Beach and Phu Bai Airport closer through the belt traffic system.
The direction of east - west and north - south expansion is appropriate, but the priority should be given to the expansion of the east - west axis first, to develop Hue heritage urban space into a picture from the mountain to the sea along the Huong River landscape axis. The expansion along this axis will avoid disturbance and imbalance between urban development land and agricultural land.
According to the project, the cities in urban cluster are connected by a belt road traffic system, with greenery strips between cities to restrict the overdevelopment of cities and prevent floods, to create an environmentally-friendly, culture-heritage-landscape urban cluster. The ancient city with the world heritage zone - Hue Imperial City - on the north bank of the Huong River, the old city on the south bank of the Huong River will be preserved; meanwhile, the urbanized areas around Hue will formally turn into a city.
A roadmap needed
According to Hue City People's Committee Chairman, Hoang Hai Minh, the target of the city in the immediate period is to stabilize economic development, continue to make a breakthrough in tourism, service and commerce. The construction of synchronous socio-economic infrastructure system with a number of modern, environmentally-friendly works meeting the criteria for first-class city of the province should be stepped up.
The project "Building and developing Hue City to 2030 and partially adjusting the master planning of Hue City to 2030, with a vision to 2050” is divided into 2 stages, both meeting the immediate need (expanding Hue City) and long-term need ( developing Thua Thien Hue Province into a city directly under the Central Government) .
Phase 1 (2020 - 2025) will build and develop Hue urban space towards the sea, along the landscape axis on both sides of the Huong River. The scope of the study covers the existing Hue City area, Huong Thuy Town (Thuy Van and Thuy Bang communes), Huong Tra Town (wards and communes of Huong Ho, Huong An, Huong Tho, Huong Vinh, Hai Duong and Huong Phong) and Phu Vang District (communes and towns of Thuan An, Phu Thuong, Phu Mau, Phu Duong and Phu Thanh) with a scale of about 267 km2.
Phase 2 (2025 - 2030) will continue to build and develop Hue urban space in the orientation of the construction planning project of Thua Thien Hue Province and Hue City master plan approved by the Prime Minister with an urban core area of about 348 km2, including the expanded Hue City with a scale of 267km2 and Huong Thuy, Huong Tra towns
In particular, the core urban area includes expanded Hue city. It is necessary to strengthen the development of the inherent functions of centers for service, tourism, health, education, administration, culture – festival of the current city. Simultaneously, the functions of public service, knowledge economy should be enhanced. Huong Thuy and Huong Tra are 2 auxiliary cities for the core city.
Recently, Thua Thien Hue has focused on infrastructure investment to the south of the city. The province established An Van Duong new urban area of over 1,700 ha belonging to Phu Thuong Commune (Phu Vang), Thuy Van Commune, Thuy Duong Ward (Huong Thuy Town) and An Dong Ward (Hue). Many major routes such as Vo Nguyen Giap, Vo Van Kiet were built, and the Provincial Public Administration Center is also being built in this urban area. That is seen as the initial step for the formation of an expanding and developing Hue city.
Story: THANH HUONG - Photo: DANG TUYEN