Under the agreement, Viettel will focus on
building an operation center to control and monitor all of the activities in
the city by collecting and analyzing data.
A view of Ho Chi Minh City
The center will include many sub-centers,
such as a surveillance camera control center to monitor streets for crime and
traffic violations, an emergency call center - similar to the American 911 center
- for fire and rescue services, an information security operations center, a
public administration center and an information management center for the
media.
Deputy General Director of Viettel Tong
Viet Trung said that all of the information collected and carefully checked and
analyzed by the operation center would help the city’s administration make
better decisions.
For example, the information management center
for press and media could monitor public reactions to the news to help local
authorities act quickly to respond to the public and prevent cases of
information crisis.
The center will ensure the highest security
levels for all data collected, especially personal information, he added.
Collaboration between the city and Viettel
will also focus on R&D activities including designing and manufacturing
microchips and building a start-up supporting center at the Viettel tower in
District 10.
According to Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman
of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, collaborating with Viettel in building
a smart city is vital to the city as it is working towards sustainable
development based on high value-added industries.
He said one of the challenges that hinder
the development of Ho Chi Minh City is that the administration’s forecast
capacity is quite low.
Therefore, the application of technology in
building a smart city would help solve some of the city’s biggest issues.
Ho Chi Minh City’s plan for smart city
development is expected to be publicized on November 25.
The city will be organizing an
international forum on the integrated circuit industry in the coming time to
call for investment in the sector.
Regional
cooperation
While having to play many roles with
limited capacity and resources, Ho Chi Minh City will be plagued with many
issues of urban development if it could not strengthen cooperation with neighboring
cities and provinces, experts said.
At a seminar titled “Ho Chi Minh City,
towards building a livable city,” Prof., Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoa, former Director
of the city Department of Planning and Architecture, said Ho Chi Minh City
should not try to solve all the urban development issues on its own, but
instead reach out for regional cooperation.
“I think Ho Chi Minh City does not have to
become a megacity with 15-20 million citizens in the coming years. Instead, it
should enhance regional cooperation to develop nearby urban areas.
“If regional cooperation is strengthened,
Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai provinces can offer great support. In these
provinces, there are many social housing projects which cannot find customers. Ho
Chi Minh City should not take on many things at the same time, which will lead
to the increasing of migrant workers, thus putting more pressure on itself.”
Dr. Nguyen Thi Hau, Deputy General
Secretary of the Vietnam History Association, agreed with Prof. Hoa, adding
that regional cooperation is hindered by differences in land ownership
among Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbors.
If the attitude is, “what I do on my land
is not the business of others”, regional cooperation would be hard to achieve,
she said.
Le Quoc Hung, deputy head of Southern
Institute for Spatial Planning, said that international experts from Europe and
the US have suggested the city adopt a regional development and planning
approach and should not only look within its administrative boundaries.
Architect Khuong Van Muoi said the city
should confront its weaknesses to adjust the development plan.
At the moment, it should tackle the two
issues of congestion and urban flooding.
Source: VNA