For Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), 2025 has shaped up as a decisive year for the economic and business capital with ambitions of firming up its status as a megacity of the Southeast Asian region.
Those familiar with the machinery of Vietnamese policy will be aware of how quickly the landscape moves.
An initial blueprint for the city’s next decade of development was first laid out in Decision No. 1711/QD-TTg and signed off in January 2025 by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, titled HCMC’s “Master Plan for 2021-30, Vision to 2050.”
Six months later, Vietnam decided it had bigger plans for its metropolis of the south, signing off on an adjustment to explicitly upgrade the scale and horizon of those ambitions to a Plan of HCMC to 2040, Vision to 2060. In doing so, the country has set its sights on a wider plane of significance for HCMC which seeks to elevate its influence on the national, regional and international levels:
A global, civilized, modern, and affectionate city – with a level of development on par with major cities in the world; [the] economic, financial, and service center of Asia, playing the role of a growth pole, a driving force for the development of the Southern region and the whole country…
Here’s a wrap of the blueprint and enabling policies which have taken shape across the year to make this “megacity” ambition a reality.
What makes a “megacity”?
Defined most basically as those cities with a population count exceeding 10 million, megacities also exhibit a number of other characteristics which differentiate them from simply “large” or “global” cities, including:
- Size and population density
- Economic complexity and power
- Influence on global politics and culture
Following a landmark administrative reform in July 2025 which saw Vietnam’s boundaries majorly redrawn, HCMC’s absorption of the surrounding Binh Duong and Ba Ria–Vung Tau provinces means the city’s previously 9.9 million resident count has increased to more than 14 million – cementing its status as Vietnam’s most highly populated city.
But achieving “megacity” status by population count is one thing – making that designation “work” for its inhabitants is another.
HCMC will be looking to invest in a major overhaul or upgrade of its connectivity and logistics infrastructure, urban planning and governance, industrial profiles, culture and tourism, and climate resilience strategies to clear a “green” and sustainable pathway to development across the next few decades.
Ho Chi Minh City: “One Integrated Space, Three Zones, One Special Administrative Area”
The HCMC Party Committee’s 2025-2030 term is now underway – and experts, scientists and thought leaders have weighed in on the drafts for a strategy they’ve called HCMC’s advantage as “One Integrated Space, Three Zones, One Special Administrative Area.”
In basic terms:
- “One Integrated Space” refers to HCMC as a global scale megacity;
- “Three Zones” refers to the distinct profiles of HCMC, Ba Ria–Vung Tau and Binh Duong following their consolidation into one administrative unit;
- “One Special Administrative Area” refers to the Con Dao area designated for development as a sanctuary for spiritual, ecological and luxury wellness tourism.
Officials see central HCMC, as it formerly was, as a core urban hub for finance and high technological development, while Binh Duong’s concentration of industrial parks will see it reframed as the center for high-tech manufacturing and advanced industry. Meanwhile, the draft strategy sees Ba Ria–Vung Tau become Vietnam’s maritime capital with a focus on coastal tourism, clean energy, port logistics, and oil and gas works.
Enabling policies in 2025 so far
Here’s a wrap of some of the major infrastructure and policy announcements which have shaped the year in HCMC as it sets its eye on the regional and international stage.
1. Improved connectivity and logistics
High-density megacities catering to more than 10 million people will require improved connectivity and access to integrated mass transit systems, high-capacity belt and ring road circuits, and strategically located airport and port infrastructure to plug the city’s capabilities into the region’s major trade corridors.
Most talked about at the start of the year was the inauguration of HCMC’s first metro line on March 9 following two months of commercial operation, running 19.7 kilometers from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien with a daily capacity of 150,000 passengers. The Vietnamese Government reported over 5 million passengers utilized the public transportation system during its first two months.
Then on August 19, the first phase of HCMC’s Ring Road 3 project opened to public traffic, with the inauguration of Nhon Trach Bridge connecting HCMC’s Thu Duc City with neighboring Dong Nai province. The 8.22 kilometer Tan Van–Nhon Trach stretch of the state-funded Ring Road 3 project is a key connection point of the HCMC–Long Thanh–Dau Giay Expressway interchange which will become a crucial logistics vein as Long Thanh International Airport comes into operation.
The 5,000-hectare airport project in neighboring Dong Nai province is being pushed to receive its first flight by December 19, one year ahead of schedule, in a reported USD $18.7 billion investment which would unlock southern Vietnam’s strategic geographic potential as a vital node along the India-Pacific economic corridor for logistics and transshipment.
2. Enhanced industrial profile and economic complexity
While HCMC has earned a reputation as an emerging innovation hub across the past decade, the arrival of megacity status means Vietnam will be looking to diversify its portfolio of industries to boost productivity and firm up its competitive position as a hub for essential services in broader Southeast Asia.
To unlock the city’s financial infrastructure and investment potential, a resolution to legally establish an International Financial Center (IFC) split between HCMC and Da Nang comes into effect this month, following National Assembly approval in June 2025.
Local media reports under the shared “one centre, two destinations” model, HCMC will be the primary hub for attracting capital flows across equities, bonds, investment banking and asset management services.
3. Culture and tourism investment
On the tourism front, domestic travelers to HCMC benefited from the opening of the new domestic Terminal 3 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on April 19, contributing an additional 20 million annual passenger capacity to the airport’s overstretched facilities.
On the same day, in the coastal mangrove region of HCMC’s southeast, construction broke ground on the major 2,870 hectare Can Gio Coastal Urban Tourism Project. Known as the city’s “green lungs”, Can Gio is set to become a high-end eco-tourism destination attracting 8-9 million tourists per year as coastal tourism and urban resorts take shape in the planned satellite city.
With regional identities still tender from this year’s provincial merger, new Ho Chi Minh City’s absorbed provinces could be facing a branding refresh, with “eco-spiritual” and “green” tourism offerings emerging as the likely complement to the business and investment hustle taking shape elsewhere in HCMC.
While the success of HCMC’s “megacity” ambitions lies squarely in the effectiveness of its policy settings and implementation, from the perspective of a nation finding its footing in the broader region, and world, this is the time of “golden opportunity.”
Vietnam Party General Secretary To Lam puts it more frankly:
“This will be the hallmark of [HCMC] – one of innovation, action, and ambition worthy of the name of great President Ho Chi Minh.”