The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) will help Vietnam build strategies for economic development in five localities, the Phap luat Tp. HCM newspaper reported. Two Canadian agencies will work with the Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN) for detailed implementation plans in five towns including Bac Kan, Hue, Hai Duong, Tay Ninh and Bien Hoa.The strategies are within a five-year project on improving urban management capability for three Vietnamese localities namely Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen and Soc Trang beginning from 2010 under the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The five-year project has led to positive results as the FCM helped Thai Nguyen attract more tourists by offering better services and also assisted Ha Tinh in developing its economy by providing investors with better land management and IT-applied tax collection. Rapid urbanization caused many problems in Vietnam, such as overloaded infrastructure system and congested urban traffic, higher transportation cost, poor social services, narrow green space and distorted land market, the World Bank said.Home to 755 urban areas, Vietnam has the highest urbanization rate in Southeast Asia with 34% of population or 37 million living in urban areas, up from 19% in 1986, the WB’s statistics showed. (Phap Luat Tp. HCM – HCM City Nov 8).
