HCM City (VNA) – HoChi Minh City and military telecom group Viettel signed an agreement onNovember 17 to develop the southern metropolis into a smart city during2017-2020.

Under the agreement,Viettel will focus on building an operation centre to control and monitor allof the activities in the city by collecting and analysing data.

The centre will includemany sub-centres such as a surveillance camera control centre to monitorstreets for crime and traffic violations, an emergency call centre -- similarto the American 911 centre -- for fire and rescue services, an informationsecurity operations centre, a public administration centre and an informationmanagement centre for the media.

Deputy General Directorof Viettel Tong Viet Trung said that all of the information collected andcarefully checked and analysed by the operation centre would help the city’sadministration make better decisions.

For example, theinformation management centre for press and media could monitor publicreactions to the news to help local authorities act quickly to respond to thepublic and prevent cases of information crisis.

The centre will ensurethe highest security levels for all data collected, especially personalinformation, he added.

Collaboration betweenthe city and Viettel will also focus on R&D activities including designingand manufacturing microchips and building a start-up supporting centre at theViettel tower in District 10.

Accoridng to Nguyen ThanhPhong, Chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, collaborating with Viettel inbuilding a smart city is vital to the city as it is working towards sustainabledevelopment based on high value-added industries.

He said one of thechallenges that hinder the development of HCM City is that the administration’sforecast capacity is quite low.

Therefore, theapplication of technology in building a smart city would help solve some of thecity’s biggest issues.

HCM City’s plan forsmart city development is expected to be publicised on November 25.

The city will beorganising an international forum on the integrated circuit industry in thecoming time to call for investment in the sector.

Regional cooperation

While having to playmany roles with limited capacity and resources, HCM City will be plagued withmany issues of urban development if it could not strengthen cooperation withneighbouring cities and provinces, experts said.

At a seminar titled"HCM City, towards building a livable city", Prof. Dr. Nguyen TrongHoa, former Director of the city Department of Planning and Architecture, saidHCM City should not try to solve all the urban development issues on its own,but instead reach out for regional cooperation.

“I think HCM City doesnot have to become a megacity with 15-20 million citizens in the coming years.Instead, it should enhance regional cooperation to develop nearby urban areas.

“If regional cooperationis strengthened, Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai provinces can offer greatsupport. In these provinces, there are many social housing projects whichcannot find customers. HCM City should not take on many things at the sametime, which will lead to the increasing of migrant workers, thus putting morepressure on itself.”

Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau,Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam History Association, agreed with Prof.Hoa, adding that regional cooperation is hindered by differences in landownership among HCM City and its neighbours.

If the attitude is,“what I do on my land is not the business of others”, regional cooperationwould be hard to achieve, she said.

Le Quoc Hung, deputyhead of Southern Institute for Spatial Planning, said that internationalexperts from Europe and the US have suggested the city adopt a regionaldevelopment and planning approach and should not only look within itsadministrative boundaries.

Architect Khuong Van Muoisaid the city should confront its weaknesses to adjust the development plan.

At the moment, it shouldtackle the two issues of congestion and urban flooding.-VNA