The plan says where. VIRO asks: how far along?
The new Ho Chi Minh City master plan describes a polycentric metropolis built on infrastructure. Below, its headline commitments sit beside what dated evidence shows today.
Ho Chi Minh City Master Plan 2025–2050, with a 100-year vision
1 metropolis · 5 growth poles · 5 strategic linkage systems · 5 satellite centres · 10 development zones · 6,772.59 km²
Passed by the HCMC People’s Council on the morning of 30 October 2026. The HCMC chairman was then expected to approve it within his authority, reportedly during November 2026; signature and publication are still pending.
Plan figures below are cited from a pre-adoption summary (VIUP with BCG and Nikken (draft summary), Sep 2026). Pre-adoption briefing summary. The plan was passed by the HCMC People’s Council on 30 Oct 2026; the signed, published version may differ. Figures are cited for orientation only; no maps or images are reproduced. They are labelled Target throughout and are never treated as achievements.
7 urban-rail lines totalling about 255 km by 2030; about 770 km by 2050.
One line in commercial service: Metro Line 1 (Bến Thành–Suối Tiên, 19.7 km), since 23 December 2024. Line 2 broke ground in January 2026 — 11.3 km in this phase — and targets Q4 2030.
Roughly 235 km of additional line would need to open within about four years. VIRO tracks each line separately rather than the network total.
About 45,000–55,000 ha of industrial and high-tech park land by 2050, against roughly 24,000 ha planned for 2025.
The draft summary itself reports 55 industrial parks and 3 export-processing zones in operation over about 22,410 ha, at around 80% occupancy. Market data for H1 2026 shows 124 ha of net industrial-land absorption in the CBRE-defined Southern market.
Roughly doubling the land base implies new parks in northern Bình Dương and around Phú Mỹ–Châu Đức. Which of the 39 planned-but-unestablished parks will actually be established is Unknown.
Long Thành as the eastern air gateway of the metropolitan region; phase 1 designed for 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo a year.
Under construction, with equipment testing observed in late September 2026. Commercial opening now reported for 24 Dec 2026, and an initial schedule of up to 366 flights a week. Rail link still in appraisal; Biên Hòa–Vũng Tàu closed to trucks; Bến Lức–Long Thành open since 1 Oct.
Design capacity is not operating capacity. Cargo operators, schedules and truck-transfer times remain the readiness test for manufacturers.
A frame of 13 expressways and 11 national highways, with Ring Roads 3, 4 and a new Ring Road 5, plus a Cái Mép–Cần Giờ crossing.
Ring Road 3 was at about 81% of contract value in early October 2026; its 14.7 km elevated eastern section missed a 30 September opening and some items move to Q1 2027. Ring Road 4’s first PPP works launched in Tây Ninh on 15 October 2026. HCMC–Mộc Bài has been under construction since July 2026, for completion in 2028.
Ring Road 5 and the Cái Mép–Cần Giờ crossing are proposals in the draft plan, with no project decision observed.
GRDP growth of 10.5%–11.5% a year for 2025–2030, versus about 5.5% CAGR in 2022–2025 (draft plan’s own baseline).
Not observed by VIRO. Infrastructure readiness is one input to that ambition, not a measure of it.
VIRO does not forecast growth. We track whether the physical and institutional preconditions arrive on time.
A coastal energy corridor from Cần Giờ to Côn Đảo, including about 12.6 GW of offshore wind and LNG power at Long Sơn.
Nhơn Trạch 3 and 4 LNG-to-power plants (1,624 MW combined) were reported in commercial operation by January 2026. LNG Long Sơn has an approved investment policy (March 2026) but no selected investor in VIRO’s evidence, and targets commercial operation in June 2031. Offshore-wind delivery in the area is Unknown in VIRO’s evidence.
Generation capacity is a system measure. Grid headroom at a specific park remains a separate, open question.