Ho Chi Minh City has approved an outline for its 2025–2050 master plan, charting a 100-year vision to transform Vietnam's southern economic hub into a leading sustainable, innovative, and livable mega-city in the Asia-Pacific region, according to local media reports on Monday, 18 May 2025. The outline was cleared by the city's municipal People's Committee and sets some of the most ambitious urban development targets in Southeast Asia.

Key Economic Targets

At the core of the plan is a target for an annual gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate of at least 10 per cent between 2025 and 2050. Under favourable conditions, the city's total GRDP is projected to reach approximately $1.2 trillion by 2050 — a figure that would place it among the most productive urban economies in Asia.

The outline envisions Ho Chi Minh City emerging as a major regional hub for economy, finance, trade, services, logistics, tourism, education, healthcare, science, technology, and innovation. Crucially, the plan frames robust economic growth as inseparable from environmental protection, social equity, and cultural preservation — a balance that many rapidly urbanising Asian cities have struggled to maintain.

Urban Model and Population Projections

The plan calls for developing a multi-centre mega-urban model featuring modern infrastructure, smart governance, and enhanced climate resilience. The city's administrative area spans more than 6,700 square kilometres, and the outline reserves future land reclamation zones to accommodate economic expansion.

The city's population is projected to reach between 20 million and 22 million by 2050, up from its current estimated population of around 9 million. Income levels and living standards are targeted to rank among the highest in Southeast Asia. Notably, climate resilience features prominently — a recognition that Ho Chi Minh City faces significant flood and sea-level-rise risk as a low-lying coastal metropolis.

Vietnam's High-Technology Push

In a related development, the Vietnamese government has approved a list of 70 high technologies prioritised for investment and development, set to take effect on 1 July 2026. The list covers artificial intelligence (AI), big data and data analytics, cloud computing, edge computing, distributed computing, high-performance computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and quantum technologies.

Also included are renewable and clean energy technologies, advanced energy storage, and AI-integrated real-time disaster monitoring, forecasting, and early warning systems — the last of which directly supports the urban resilience goals outlined in the city's master plan.

High-Tech Products Catalogue

Alongside the technology list, the government has issued a catalogue of 100 high-tech products encouraged for development. These include AI and data-based systems, equipment and software for recognition, analysis, forecasting and control, and platforms supporting AI research and application.

Other products on the list include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), eco-friendly new energy vehicles, biopharmaceuticals for healthcare and agricultural use, next-generation vaccines, medical biological products, and diagnostic biological products. Together, these catalogues signal a concerted state-led effort to position Vietnam as a technology manufacturing and innovation destination, complementing the urbanisation ambitions of its largest city.

What Comes Next

The approved outline is the foundational document for a full master plan that will govern land use, infrastructure investment, and governance reform in Ho Chi Minh City through mid-century. Implementation timelines and sectoral investment breakdowns are expected to follow as the detailed plan is developed. With the high-technology list taking effect in mid-2026, Vietnam's policy architecture for its next growth phase is beginning to take shape.