Soc Son satellite urban area: a dream to come true in Hanoi

Soc Son, a suburban district in the north of Hanoi, is set to become a satellite urban area of the capital.

Under a master plan approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Government will invest US$321 million in urbanizing Soc Son district in the period of 2021-25.

This investment is 2.3 times higher than that in the period of 2015-20.

As many as 150 projects in the fields of technical infrastructure and socio-economic development are priotized to be operational in the next five years.

In order to synchronously develop infrastructure, the local authorities have given green light to build water supply and drainage networks in the district's urban area, where is expected to be completed by 2025, along with auxiliary infrastructure, lighting system and urban greenery.

Hanoi strives to finalize Soc Son satellite urban areas by 2030. Photo: Trong Tung

Head of Soc Son Urban Management Division Nguyen Xuan Thang said the district has not yet completed the detailed planning, hampering the urbanization process.

“The urbanization requires huge investment fund which the district could not arrange enough without the city’s financial support,” said Thang, adding that the district proposed the Hanoi People's Committee to help the district in seeking qualified investors to implement the projects as scheduled.

Mr. Pham Van Minh, chairman of People's Committee of Soc Son district, “We believe that in the next five years, the backbone infrastructure system will be gradually completed, creating a premise for the district to become a satellite urban area of the capital city by 2030.”

Planning for Hoa Lac satellite urban area. Photo: Cong Hung

Under the Hanoi’s overall planning for 2030, with a vision to 2050, the municipal People’s Committee will have five satellite urban areas with a total area of ​​20,388.3 hectares, namely Hoa Lac, Son Tay, Xuan Mai, Phu Xuyen and Soc Son.

The five satellite urban areas are expected to be nucleus to promote the city’s suburban development, with its own, unique and mixed functions to support Hanoi city’s downtown.

Over the past years, the city has spent about VND7 trillion (US$302.5 million) per year to build and upgrade transportation networks, with the priority given to suburban traffic infrastructure.

With such investment, a breakthrough will certainly be made so that by 2030 Hanoi will become a "green, smart - modern" city which is dynamically industrialized and modernized into an internationally competitive hub.

Satellite urban areas to reduce pressure on the inner city

According to architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, vice chairman of the Hanoi Urban Planning Association, satellite urban areas help reduce pressure on the inner city.

However, the translation of general planning into detailed projects has been slow, hindering investment attraction into their development, Nghiem noted.

To create motivation for the development of satellite urban areas, Nghiem said that there should be a specific steering agency in the construction of satellite urban areas to implement the planning, instead of the district people’s committees.

The planning of satellite urban areas should be announced public to attract investors,” Nghiem added.

He said the road network connecting the downtown with the satellite urban areas, between the satellite urban areas and surrounding residential quarters needs to be quickly completed.

“It is necessary to attract resources to build social and technical infrastructure in the satellite urban areas,” he said.

The five satellite towns, as completed, are designed to accommodate 1.4 million people, accounting for 15% of the capital city's population by 2030. With harmonious system of technical and social infrastructure, it is expected to ease downtown overpopulation and avoid the concentration of schools, factories and hospitals in the inner city.