Phu Tho Builds Modern Urban Areas Coupled with Sustainable Development

Following administrative mergers, Phu Tho enters a new stage of development with an expanded spatial footprint, stronger growth potential, and a vision toward forming a vital growth pole in the Northern Midland and Mountainous region. Within this trajectory, urban development serves not only as an inevitable requirement of industrialization and modernization, but also as a lever to restructure economic space, elevate citizens' quality of life, and forge a new face for the nation’s ancestral land.

From expanding regional transport routes and comprehensively invested new urban zones to the creation of green and smart cities, Phu Tho is step-by-step realizing its goal of building a modern, civilized urban system while guaranteeing harmonious, sustainable, and identity-rich development.

Phu Tho’s urban planning is progressively refined in alignment with the National Green Growth Strategy.

Discussing this matter, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quang—Director of the Department of Construction—stated: According to the adjusted Provincial Master Plan for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050, Phu Tho aims to achieve an urbanization rate of approximately 35–40% by 2030. The average GRDP growth rate for the 2026–2030 period is targeted at 11–12% per year, and the collection and treatment rate of urban solid waste is projected to reach 100%. These figures represent not only developmental aspirations but also a decisive mindset shift from expanding urban areas by breadth to developing them in depth, placing sustainability and quality of life at the absolute center.

In this developmental landscape, transport infrastructure continues to be identified as the backbone of a modern city. In recent years, Phu Tho has pooled resources into a series of key transport projects, creating regional connectivity between the midland, the delta, and the Northwest. Strategic routes such as the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho expressway, linkages to national highways, regional roads, and new urban corridors are gradually forming a synchronized transport network.

Particularly post-merger, infrastructure connectivity has become more pressing than ever. Transport axes function not just as administrative links but as catalysts driving trade, logistics, tourism, and urban services. Experts note that this presents a golden opportunity for Phu Tho to form a highly integrated chain of driving urban centers, generating a spillover effect across the entire region.

Alongside expanding urban spaces comes the requirement for more modern and methodical urban management. According to a report by the Phu Tho Department of Construction, following the mergers, the province spans 60 urban areas, including 5 class-II cities and 55 class-III cities. While a large-scale urban system unlocks vast development potential, it simultaneously exerts significant pressure on land management, technical infrastructure, environmental protection, and public service quality.

Reality shows that urbanization without synchronized planning easily leads to fragmented development, overloaded infrastructure, environmental pollution, and ecological imbalances. Consequently, the province is shifting robustly toward green and smart urban models, prioritizing public spaces, increasing green canopies, and improving climate change resilience.

In the Phu Tho Urban Development Program to 2030, the province clearly defines the goal of building a synchronized, modern, and identity-rich urban system, step-by-step forming driving urban centers for services, trade, industry, and culture. Rather than chasing pure urbanization speed, Phu Tho’s planning principles place heavy emphasis on long-term adaptability and preserving the distinct cultural values of the Ancestral Land.

Viet Tri continues to be oriented as the core city and the festival center of the nation’s roots. Meanwhile, new urban areas in the former Vinh Phuc territory or eco-resort cities in the former Hoa Binh territory are being researched to create a complementary, multipolar urban system.

Furthermore, digital transformation is becoming a vital tool to optimize urban governance. The application of technology in planning management, construction order, technical infrastructure, public lighting, and field-to-office reporting is progressively rolling out across localities. Post-merger, Phu Tho identifies smart city construction as an inevitable trend to elevate governance quality and better serve its citizens.

From an economic perspective, urbanization is creating a new springboard for services, real estate, commerce, and tourism. Mr. Nguyen Hoai Nam—Chairman of the Vinh Phuc Ward People’s Committee—remarked: "Central urban areas are increasingly attracting powerful investment inflows, especially in high-tech industries, logistics, and ecotourism. The formation of new urban poles not only helps decompress the central core but also unlocks job opportunities and lifts local incomes."

However, for urbanization to truly become a driver of sustainable growth, Phu Tho still has a long checklist ahead. Some localities still face a shortage of infrastructure investment resources; planning quality in certain areas has not kept pace with development speed; and encroachments on transport corridors or construction deviating from planning still occur. Additionally, pressures regarding wastewater treatment, waste management, and localized traffic congestion in major cities present urgent demands to upgrade urban governance capacity.

Phu Tho’s urban planning guarantees synchronized infrastructure frameworks, heading toward civilized, modern, and livable cities.

This reality requires the province to tighten discipline in planning management, prioritize resources for strategic infrastructure projects, and maximize the role of citizens in building civilized cities. Stronger investment attraction mechanisms into technical infrastructure, green transport, clean energy, and smart cities are equally critical.

More importantly, urban development must be placed within a holistic harmony between urban and rural areas. A modern city is not merely defined by high-rises or sweeping avenues; it must be a place where humans live in a safe, civilized, and identity-rich environment with opportunities for comprehensive development.

With a new planning foundation, expanded development space, and an iron will for innovation, Phu Tho stands before a historic opportunity to forge a modern, green, and sustainable urban landscape. The journey ahead will undoubtedly feature hurdles, but with a long-term developmental vision and the united heart of the entire political system, the ancestral land is making powerful strides toward becoming a leading developed province in the Northern Midland and Mountainous region in the years to come.

Quang Nam