New urban area to take shape

The shape of the Thu Thiem new urban town on the bank of the Saigon River is now clearer with revisions. However, it will take a long time to materialize the planning.

On April 5, the project to revise the 1/2000 scale planning of the new urban town of Thu Thiem was introduced to related HCM City authorities and experts in the field. The new project has adopted changes and included more details than the 2005 version.

A facelift to Thu Thiem

Considerable changes have been suggested by the U.S.-based consultant company Sasaki Associates to the master plan of Thu Thiem New Urban Area, including the Core Area, the Crescent Boulevard and the East-West Boulevard. Blocks of buildings on both sides of the central square are expanded. So are the Crescent Boulevard and the North-South route. More functions have been added to the Observation Tower, and, subsequently, its height is increased to 86 floors. The consulting firm argued that wider blocks will maximize areas for development, cut infrastructure costs and allow car parks in the basement to be bigger. “Those changes are definitely more enticing to investors,” claimed a Sasaki representative.

In fact, aiming at attracting investment, Sasaki has suggested the increase of commercial area from 46.6 hectares to 50.7 hectares, and versatile commercial area from 22 hectares to 27.4 hectares. At the same time, the area of administrative offices will be cut from 17.2 hectares to 2.7 hectares. Moreover, the total construction floor area will be increased by 40 percent over the 2005 plan, from 5.4 million square meters to 7.57 million square meters. As a result, the ratio of land use in some sections soars, up to 7.17-8.38 times; for instance, the software park and the intellectual park (762,500 square meters), the Observation Tower (540,000 square meters), and the Core Area (1,25 million square meters).

As the ratio increases, the height of buildings will be higher correspondingly. Consequently, Sasaki has maintained that all the buildings in the Core Area should not be always 40 floors as stipulated in the 2005 version. Instead, some buildings should be up to 86 floors and some down to only four. However, the height of those buildings must comply with a rule that blocks are lower toward the bank of the river and the Central Lake. To ensure the requirements of technical infrastructure and commercial purposes, high-rises in the Core Area must have multi-story basements to give way to shopping arcades, car parks and subway stops.

Needless to say, subway and buses are only part of the public transport picture of Thu Thiem whose system also embraces ferries and water taxis in addition to connecting streets. All will create diversity in transport.

Another proposed change relates to creating landscape for the Central Lake and the children’s culture house near the lakeside. This landscape will comply harmoniously with the connection with the surrounding areas and the Core Area. Such connection is to provide appropriate activities meeting different cultural and recreational forms of the residents. It will also lead to hospitable terrain to facilitate sightseeing and meeting needs, as well as to create sport facilities, walkways and friendly atmosphere.

More changes needed

At the presentation, Sasaki’s revisions of the 1/2000 scale planning of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area were fairly appreciated by related authorities and experts in the field. As Le Van Nam, former HCM City’s chief architect, put it, the revisions are full of good points. However, there remains a host of issues which need better clarification so that when the project is endorsed and implemented, no further revisions will be required, according to Nguyen Van Hiep, vice director of the HCM City Department of Construction.

Nguyen Dang Son from the Institute for Urban Studies and Infrastructure Development posed a question as to why subway and bus stops are located too far from one another. Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Hau from the HCM City Institute for Development Studies commented that the area for the museum is too small, being only 10,000 square meters. That the museum is built too far away from the Core Area and the central square is also unconvincing.

Hoang Ngoc Tuan from the Urban Railway Authority said the subway route which crosses the Saigon River diagonally with four opposite curves on a short distance before joining the terminal is technically infeasible.

A representative from the municipal Department of Planning and Architecture argued that the positions of subway stops and the museum should be more appropriate. He also warned that basements with so many floors may be beyond investors’ capabilities. Otherwise, revisions will be made in accordance with their intentions when the project is implemented.

The different heights of the Crescent Boulevard—six meters at some points and eight at some others—will possibly create steep slope, and therefore should be reconsidered, said an official from the Department of Transport. His counterpart from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment called for a revaluation of the environmental effect of the project as the volume of clearance and filling is enormous.

On their part, authorities of District 2 where the Thu Thiem New Urban Area is located, asked for an explanation of why the area of public land has been reduced while the population is set to increase from 120,000 people in 2005 to 160,000 in the new plan.

Nguyen Van Hiep from the Department of Construction said he did not know why there is only a single bridge in the area of the tourism island. An emergency exit should be taken into account, he said. “What is bad should be amended although it has been endorsed already,” Hiep emphasized.

Architect Luu Trong Hai said he is concerned with the land fund for public facilities such as churches, pagodas and markets because they have yet to emerge in the planning. “They are necessary to the inhabitants,” he argued.

To make the project more feasible, Sasaki has revised it so that it becomes more enticing to investors. However, the biggest stumbling block, according to Hai, is that with the huge construction floor area and high land prices, the Thu Thiem new urban project may requires tens of billions of U.S. dollars to be realized.

Sasaki representatives promised to consider all the issues tabled by the speakers. However, no specific date has been set. It seems that it will take yet a long time for the Thu Thiem New Urban Area to materialize. – SGT

Posted by VBN on May 5 2011. Filed under Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry