Ho Chi Minh City - Thirty-five years after the reunification of Vietnam, a grand ceremony took place in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, where the campaign for liberation of the former Saigon ended the 30-year Cold War military conflict in this southeast Asian country.
The event brought together about 50,000 people in performances and parades in the park near the Reunification Palace, where the official handover of power occurred on April 30, 1975 in Saigon, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
In this city that is still referred to by many people as Saigon, the economy is booming as motorcycles roar down the streets next to reminders of a war that lasted for decades.
On this war-torn land in Ho Chi Minh City, construction of a high-tech park went into its second phase just two days before the 35-year anniversary of the reunification.
"A war-torn area then becomes a modern industrial world now," said Le Hoang Quan, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, on the inauguration of the completion of the first phase of construction of the high-tech park on Wednesday.
The Saigon Hi-Tech Park, located in District 9 by the Hanoi Highway 12 km from the downtown, is one of two national technology parks in Vietnam. The other one, Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, is on the outskirts of the capital Hanoi in the north.
"Actually, the whole area of the park covers 913 hectares. This morning we announced the completion of the first phase, 300 hectors of land, and we have 95 percent of phase one fully occupied so far," Le Thi Thanh My, vice-president of Saigon Hi-Tech Park's management board, said on Wednesday.
The park now has 17 operational projects, employing more than 10,000 workers.
"Right now in the park we have about 10 companies from various countries," she said, which include Intel, Japan's Nidec, Denmark's Sonion, and Allied Technologies of Singapore.
Vietnamese residing overseas have also returned to the country with various forms of investments, and five overseas Vietnamese are working in the park as experts and research fellows in the research lab, according to Le.
This park is among the ongoing projects aimed at transforming the economic structure of Ho Chi Minh City, which is currently a hub of labor-intensive industries.
Carl Robinson, a former Associated Press correspondent in Vietnam covering the war and now a business owner in the city, witnessed the change over the past 35 years.
"During the war, Saigon had about 3 million people and refugees, but now it's 9 million. Three times the population, but (the city is) not three times bigger. The city is getting crowded and the problem is the infrastructure is not catching up," he said.
Ho Chi Minh City is densely populated, covering 2,095 sq km over 24 districts in the heart of southern Vietnam.
Two new townships are being built to accommodate more residents. One is Cu Chi Northeast New Township, which is to cover 6,000 hectares, and the second one is the Thu Thiem New Township, which will cover 900 hectares.
Nguyen Anh Hgoc, vice-president of the Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh City, said the development of the Thu Thiem New Township was inspired by the Pudong New Area in Shanghai. "We will move people to the other side of the Saigon River to develop a new town there," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment