Future of Hanoi is mapped out

The move will create opportunities for real estate developers and service providers in the new territory, which has seen investors flock there in recent years. The MoC proposed Ha Tay province, Vinh Phuc province’s Me Linh district and four communes of Hoa Binh province’s Luong Son district, be merged into Hanoi.

It said the capital’s expansion was aimed to create land for key national infrastructure works such as a national administrative centre, new townships, tourism centres, training and hi-tech facilities, which Hanoi’s current size is not large enough to build on. Due to rapid economic growth, a large population from other provinces has migrated into Hanoi. As a result, the city’s infrastructure has been overloaded and not been able to meet demand for housing accommodation, public services, schools, hospitals and recreational areas.

The MoC said the expansion of Hanoi to cover all Ha Tay provincial areas was rational since this western locality had a spacious, beautiful landscape and topography suitable for development of national and international-scale projects such as the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, National Universities Village, Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism and new townships.

Property consultant firm CB Richard Ellis believes the province’s proximity to the new central business district of My Dinh in Hanoi, construction and extension of roads from My Dinh to Ha Dong City and the construction of the 30-kilometre Lang-Hoa Lac Highway will allow Hanoi’s expansion to occur more efficiently.

“The obvious area for expansion of the Hanoi borders would be to the west of the city along the Lang-Hoa Lac Highway. This area is accessible from the city and from the airport, has been developing infrastructure and numerous residential and commercial projects planned,” said Richard Leech, executive director of CB Richard Ellis.
“The completion of the six lane, 30km highway between Lang and Hoa Lac will make commuting to the city or the My Dinh area an attractive proposition,” he added.

The Lang-Hoa Lac Corridor, planned to be the East-West development corridor of Hanoi Region, is expected to be mostly “quality of life residential” with mixed-use commercial, high tech business parks and light industrial, recreation and ecological developments, schools and medical facilities, CB Richard Ellis said in its recent quarterly report. In Ha Tay today, many of the developments are self-contained townships as opposed to dense urban residential neighbourhoods commonly seen in Hanoi.

There is an estimated 130 residential developments in planning or construction while other recreation amenities are being added to draw interest to living in the province.
The consultant foresees two major spatial expansion directions from Hanoi to Ha Tay, including Ha Dong City, which will be developed into a typically high-density residential area, and Lang-Hoa Lac Highway Corridor that will build mixed-use townships.

Major township developments underway in the province include the 240-hectare Nam An Khanh by a joint venture between Posco and Vinaconex, Sudico’s 180ha Bac An Khanh and Nam Cuong Group’s 197ha Duong Noi. Other foreign developers such as Booyoung and Hyundai RNC have won permission to build residential high-rise complexes in Ha Dong City to the cost of $270 million and $196 million respectively. “The expansion of Hanoi to cover Ha Tay will entice many more developers to build modern townships in the new Hanoi metropolitan areas,” said Doan Van Binh, president of CEO Investment Joint Stock Company.