Lê Văn Tám Park in HCM City’s District 1. — Photo www.sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has instructed the Department of Construction to come up with a comprehensive programme for building public parks and increasing the green cover over the next decade.

The existing greenery and parks in the city must be preserved to safeguard the quality of life of people, improve air quality and reduce pollution, it said.

The city expects to build 650ha of public parks in the next 10 years so that there is at least one square metre of park per resident.

Besides, 30,000 trees will be planted in public spaces by 2025 and 50,000 by 2030.

By 2025 public parks are expected to expand by 150ha, taking availability per capita to 0.65sq.m.

To increase green space, city authorities plan to improve propaganda and offer incentives to encourage individuals, organisations and businesses to develop green areas, especially in residential areas and housing projects.

Plans to green roads and parks should be appropriate for the city’s climatic and soil conditions, the committee said.

Existing parks and green spaces fail to meet the increasing public demand for a modern city.

At the end of 2018 the city had 369 parks covering more than 500ha in public places and residential areas, or 0.55sq.m per capita.

Most are in the inner city, while there is a lack of public parks in slightly distant districts like 9, 12, Thủ Đức, Bình Tân, Nhà Bè, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, and Bình Chánh.

Only about 1.54ha of public parks are being added to the city each year.  

Many of the existing ones were built years ago and have deteriorated, while some have been used for purposes like shopping, entertainment and others for years.

Many programmes to build public parks have been planned since 1993, but all remain on paper. — VNS