On the morning of August 24, during the first extraordinary session, the 16th National Assembly passed the Law on Urban Development.
Speaking to SGGP reporters, experts and scholars noted that the law would create fresh momentum and opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to achieve faster and more sustainable growth.
According to experts, the most important factor is that, upon implementation, these new mechanisms and policies must translate into tangible results for the public and businesses creating opportunities, reducing administrative procedures, shortening processing times, and improving the quality of life.
Associate Professor Tran Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Banking and Financial Technology at the University of Finance - Marketing, noted that the Law on Urban Development includes provisions on the social contributions of administrative procedure support services, reflecting a progressive and flexible approach to governance. This mechanism allows the State to retain its decision-making authority and oversight while mobilizing resources and technology from society.
People and businesses will receive faster services while reducing compliance costs. Standardized tasks such as providing filing guidance, digitization and returning results can be assigned to qualified organizations under state supervision. This will free up civil servants to focus on handling complex applications.
To make the mechanism effective in practice, Ho Chi Minh City needs to establish specific regulations and promptly issue standards and pricing frameworks, ensure transparent provider selection, and impose strict sanctions.
The pilot process must be measured against specific indicators, including processing times, compliance costs and data incidents. This will help improve the quality of public services, enhance the investment environment, and build a modern, transparent and inclusive urban governance system.
Chairman Nguyen Duc Tri of the People's Committee of Tan Hung Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, stated that the Urban Development Law would enable the city to be more proactive in management, administration, and addressing practical issues.
Based on his experience at the ward level, he believes that matters falling under local jurisdiction require clear decentralization of authority, allowing for immediate decisions and actions on the ground rather than waiting for input across multiple administrative tiers.
Therefore, he expressed strong expectations that, as the law is implemented, Ho Chi Minh City will review relevant regulations to avoid requiring a single task to go through multiple steps and agencies. Once procedures and authorities are clearly defined, local authorities will be more proactive in handling matters, while people and businesses will spend less time traveling and waiting.
Authority should be delegated to the level that is closest to the people, most familiar with local conditions, and sufficiently equipped to handle the matter.
Dr. Huynh Minh Chin, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, expressed his hope that the legislation would provide the necessary legal, planning, and resource-related framework for the city to build a modern, multi-tiered, multi-polar, and people-centric healthcare system. This would enable the city to proactively pilot new healthcare models tailored to its specific characteristics.
By strategically harnessing the new provisions of the Urban Development Law in alignment with the guiding principles of Resolution 72-NQ/TW, which emphasizes the protection, care, and enhancement of public health, Ho Chi Minh City is well-positioned for a transformative shift. Rather than being defined solely by the scale of its healthcare system, the city could reorient its development priorities to place the health and quality of life of its residents at the very core of its growth agenda.
The city could also adopt more flexible public-private partnership (PPP) models, mobilize private healthcare facilities to undertake public service tasks, and attract international medical experts, measures that could significantly strengthen the city’s healthcare system.
Ho Chi Minh City is currently focusing on the development of smart urban areas, the data economy, and digital infrastructure; this creates a highly favorable foundation for the healthcare sector to accelerate the adoption of digital and smart health solutions.
