Vietnam hub reveals $477bn plan for development till 2025 This photo shows the Saigon Bridge connecting Binh Thanh District to District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. Authorities in the city say they need VND10,000 trillion (US$477 billion) to carry out a socio-economic development plan until 2025. Tuoi Tre Ho Chi Minh City will spend almost US$500 billion on a socio-economic development plan that will be executed over the next decade, municipal authorities announced Monday at a meeting. The total investment capital for Ho Chi Minh City’s socio-economic development plan by 2025 amounts to VND10,000 trillion ($477 billion), the city authorities said at the event, held to announce the Prime Minister’s approval of a master plan for the socio-economic development of the southern metropolis by 2020 with a vision toward 2025. HCMC People’s Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan said the development plan is significant not only to the southern key economic zone but also to the entire country. Under the plan, the city will have a central area with a radius of 15 kilometers and four directions of development, of which two main directions being east and south and the other two auxiliary ones being northwest and west-southwest. The city’s central area will consist of Districts 1 and 3, a part of District 4, a part of Binh Thanh District, and the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. The investment capital for the 2011-2015 period is VND1,300-1,400 trillion, 12 percent of which will come from state coffers. For the 2016-2020 phase, the expenditure is estimated at VND2,700-3,000 trillion, 10 percent of which will be covered by the state budget. From 2021 to 2025, the respective figures are VND5,000-5,600 trillion and eight percent. Regarding road infrastructure development, the Prime Minister has allowed the city to build and perfect its centripetal routes and beltway systems, construct a bridge system and key intersections, develop four interconnected overhead routes having four lanes in areas with large traffic volumes. Buses will continue to be considered a main public transport means in the 2015-2020 stage, and in the next period – from 2021 to 2025 – an urban railway system will be built. Specifically, buses are expected to meet 11 percent of the total demand for travel in 2015, and the figure will be increased to 21 percent in 2025. Meanwhile, the use of personal vehicles for travel will be limited through economic and administrative measures in accordance with a proper roadmap. The number of traffic accidents, the death toll, and the number of people injured in such incidents will each shrink by 10 percent per year in the 2015-2025 period, the plan says. GDP to grow 1.5 times higher than national average According to the plan, the city will be regarded as a special urban area that leads the country in modernization and industrialization. It will gradually become a large economic, financial, commercial, scientific, and technological hub of the country in particular, and Southeast Asia in general. Ho Chi Minh City will be turned into a multi-functional economic center that has an advanced technical infrastructure system on a par with that of many other large cities in Southeast Asia. Under the plan, the city is expected to post an average economic growth rate of 10-10.5 percent in the 2011-2015 phase, 9.5-10 percent during 2016-2020, and 8.5-9 percent from 2021 to 2025. In addition, the city is slated to achieve a GDP per capita of $8,430-$8,822 by 2020 and $13,340-14,285 by 2025. The economic hub's average GDP growth rate during 2011-2020 is expected to be 1.5 times higher than the country’s, according to the plan. Tuoitrenews