Michael Sieburg

Saigon is growing rapidly. An official population of 6.5 million; an unofficial population of at least 8 million. Each year hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese come to the city from the Mekong Delta and the rural areas to the north. Downtown is small and congested, with not enough office space, too little retail space, not enough hotels, too few apartment buildings, and small, busy roads filled with swerving motorbikes, city buses, rickety bikes, and SUV’s. To help the city expand and ease congestion, officials are busy developing plans to create new urban areas in District 7 (Saigon South) and District 2 (An Phu). A new central business district is planned in the marshes across the river from the current downtown. A subway is in the works, new ports are being developed, and ring roads are being constructed to divert truck traffic around the city. The pace of development is stunning and at times, entire areas of the city, especially in the new urban districts, seem to be huge construction zones. In five or ten years, the city will look dramatically different.

On Saturday afternoon I had a coffee on the roof of the Majestic, the beautiful, historic hotel at the end of Dong Khoi street, overlooking the Saigon River and out to where some of the new urban areas are being developed.