Vietnam’s three cities to join ASEAN Smart Cities Network

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang will be joining the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN), which was proposed earlier in April by Singapore. The ASCN aims to facilitate cooperation in the region on smart cities for sustainable development. A total of 26 cities from member states will be joining the network.

The ASCN is a platform, which would include at least three cities including the capital, from each member state, that would be developed into smart cities. The network focuses on developing digital infrastructure and increasing connectivity in the region in areas such as electronic payments. Other areas of focus include city operations, energy and water conservation. The ASCN will be officially launched at the 33rd ASEAN Summit in November 2018.

The smart city network aims to:

• Increase cooperation in the development of smart cities, under which member states will share best practices and develop action plans for the next seven years, which can lead to a framework for development;
• Work with the private sector on feasible and commercially viable projects;
• Procure funding from external partners. Member states will be required to enter into partnerships with external partners including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Global Infrastructure Hub.

Vietnamese cities

Hanoi

Hanoi aims to be a smart city by 2030 and to do so it has decided to focus on four major sectors, healthcare, education, transport, and tourism. Hanoi already has implemented parking systems that allow users to search for parking lots and pay through mobile devices and is planning to launch it in all the districts in 2018. It is also developing a digital traffic map to manage public transportation in the city.

In education, 2,700 schools and universities have introduced electronic school reports and family-to-school contacts as well as an online enrollment system. Regarding healthcare, the city was the first to introduce e-documents in its health management system, with 900,000 records so far.

By 2020, the focus will be on developing the core infrastructure and smart applications, while the second phase from 2020 to 2025 will focus on making the solutions operational.

On September 25th, 2018, international financial institutions and representatives of worldwide development agencies will also meet in Hanoi for the Vietnam Economic Infrastructure Development Forum to discuss upcoming business opportunities in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City

HCM City aims to be the first smart city in Vietnam. For the next two years, it is focusing on cloud computing infrastructure, big data, building data warehouses/data centers, security-monitoring centers, and open data ecosystem. In addition, the city is planning to introduce smart solutions in healthcare, food safety, education, traffic management, flood control, and law and order.

Da Nang

For the past nine years, Da Nang has consistently topped the Vietnam ICT Index rankings, which ranks cities on their readiness for information and communications technology development and application. The city plans on becoming a smart city by 2020 and a green city by 2025.

The city is working with FPT, the largest information technology service company in Vietnam on various smart city projects on traffic systems, hospital patient databases, and natural disaster management systems. In addition, the city has also developed solutions focusing on public transportation, water supervision, and residential management through their e-Government system.

Original source: Vietnam Briefing
Published on 23 May 2018