The city plans to merge districts 2, 9 and Thủ Đức with 19 wards from other districts to form a creative hub in the eastern part of the city.—VNA/VNS Photo Ngọc Hà

HCM CITY— The HCM City Department of Home Affairs has submitted a plan to the People's Committee on the merger of three districts and 19 wards in the eastern side of the city.

The city will merge districts 2, 9 and Thủ Đức and 19 wards in districts 3, 4, 5, 10 and Phú Nhuận to form the creative hub.

The plan was completed after the Prime Minister and ministry officials met in the city on May 8.

The number of districts will drop from 24 to 22 and wards from 322 to 312.

After the merger, the new hub is expected to spread over more than 211sq.km and be home to more than 1.1 million people ​​.

The hub will take advantage of available facilities in the area such as universities in Thủ Đức District, Saigon High-Tech Park in District 9 and Thủ Thiêm New Urban area in District 2.

The eastern area also has convenient and modern transport infrastructure, including Metro Line No 1 from Bến Thành in District 1 to Suối Tiên in District 9, Hà Nội Highway, the expressway from HCM City to Đồng Nai Province and Cát Lái Port, the largest in Việt Nam.

The eastern area will be developed into an innovation hub based on a digital, knowledge-based economy. — VNS