Residents of Thu Duc City in Ho Chi Minh City have begun participating in a public consultation process regarding a bold proposal to merge the provinces of Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau into an expanded Ho Chi Minh City. Simultaneously, feedback is being collected on restructuring ward-level administrative units.

On the morning of April 13, ward-level People's Committees across Thu Duc City started distributing surveys to gather public opinion on the proposed integration of the entire natural area and population of the two neighboring provinces into Ho Chi Minh City, forming what is being called the “new HCM City.”

At the same time, local authorities are also consulting residents on plans to consolidate wards and communes into new grassroots-level administrative units, based on a two-tier local governance model.

According to VietNamNet’s on-site reporting, as of the morning of April 13, households in An Phu Ward, Thu Duc City had received survey forms on the proposal to merge Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau into HCMC. In addition, they were asked to weigh in on the planned merger of An Phu, Binh Trung Dong, and Binh Trung Tay Wards into a new administrative unit named Binh Trung Ward.

In Hiep Binh Chanh Ward, alongside the province-merger consultation, residents also received survey forms on merging Hiep Binh Chanh, Hiep Binh Phuoc, and part of Linh Dong Ward into a single new ward called Hiep Binh.

A representative from the Hiep Binh Chanh People's Committee explained that the public consultation follows instructions from the Department of Home Affairs. The ward will compile the survey results and report them to higher authorities.

According to the proposed administrative reorganization plan, the new Ho Chi Minh City would be a centrally-run city formed by merging the provinces of Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau with the current HCMC.

Once merged, the expanded city would have a total area of 6,772.65 square kilometers, equating to 135.43% of the standard requirement, and a population of 13.7 million people - 979.04% of the national standard. It would comprise 190 subordinate administrative units, officially becoming a “super city” of Vietnam’s Southeast region.

The proposed new administrative and political center of the expanded HCMC would be located at 86 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1. Two additional administrative hubs would be situated at the current Binh Duong Administrative Center (Le Loi Street, Phu Chanh Ward, Thu Dau Mot City) and the current Ba Ria - Vung Tau Administrative Center (1 Pham Van Dong Street, Phuoc Trung Ward, Ba Ria City).

Anh Phuong