Economical and efficient use of energy in buildings and construction, the encouragement of greening construction materials are two out of five main tasks of the construction industry under the National Action Plan for green growth construction.

The Ministry of Construction has been actively cooperating with international organizations and domestic research institutions to prepare the legal documents, policy directions and action plans for green growth in response to climate change within the construction sector.

As reflected in the initial statistics of 59 cities grade IV and upper in the country, currently, 24/59 municipalities have issued documents to direct and implement green growth urban development. Among them, 7 municipalities have prepared the guidance Resolution; 15 municipalities have conducted the urban planning, and 6 municipalities have implementation program in place.

Specifically, two locals, namely Sapa and Soc Trang already issued their green growth strategy. Some other cities such as Da Nang, Bac Ninh, Tam Ky are also conducting research for building the green growth strategy and climate change adaptation. Hai Phong city and Lien Nghia Town have promulgated many green growth related documents.

However, in the above-mentioned 24 cities, 15 have only one directive document. Although the municipalities from Type I to Type IV have the guidance and oriented direction, it is necessary to continue the guidance for directing the implementation of green growth urban construction.

Another objective constraint in the implementation of green growth urban construction is the lack of clarity about the concept of green growth urban construction, with no specific criteria and no practical exemplary entity in this field at the level of entire municipality.

Many agencies and international organizations have been making efforts to study models for a municipality which is closer to urban viewpoint of green growth, projecting it out with different names such as a green municipality, eco-urban (Eco City), ecological-economic urban (E2 city), economy - environment and equality (E2 and Equity City), Smart City, Ubiquitous City.

In each country, there is the interpretation and application of its system of norms, standards and methods of planning and construction of various urban development, depending on numerous factors such as competence and qualification development, science and technology development, service market, traditions and characteristics of natural conditions. Therefore, the application in the specific conditions of Vietnam as well as  explicit conditions of each municipality should be made with the roadmap, and detailed plans.

Currently, there are 8 cities receiving the support from international organizations, primarily focusing on the study of strategy to implement the urban development and green growth. Most of the local reports suggested the support from the Central Government as well as support from international organizations and the countries in developing the action plans for green growth; developing the management and administration tools; sharing the practical lessons; supporting the training in capacity building; supporting the projects with priority investment.

The formulation of the action plan should ensure the ability to integrate the plan into local planning in the areas of sustainable production and consumption, and GHG emission reduction, and adapt to climate change, do greening the production practices and business activities, to build a sustainable infrastructure, to protect, extract and use of resources efficiently, to reform and apply the economic instruments, to build and realize the emission indexes.

The situation of national urbanization and the impact of global issues require the municipalities' authority to have a realistic vision, long-term plans, sustainable basis for growth based on the dynamics of competitiveness and efficiency. The construction of green growth municipality will be a fundamental shift in the systematic thinking about urban growth, which requires consensus of sectors and stakeholders in the society.

With the right mindset, an appropriate roadmap and innovative solutions, the green growth based municipality will contribute an important part to the successful implementation of the National Strategy on Green Growth.

Trong Tan