Province and city mergers, the two dragon towers restart, HCMC becomes an International Financial Center, BIDV Tower, reclaiming land of stalled and abandoned projects, COVID-19 memorial park, Saigon River Pedestrian Bridge, the Thu Thiem New Urban Area is gaining momentum.
This is the annual construction report for Ho Chi Minh City. Most of these photos are from my visits between January and May of 2026, with news articles from the last year.
Province and city mergers
Since my last update in 2025, Ho Chi Minh City has been merged with the neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau. This was part of a nationwide merger that saw 63 provinces and cities merged into 34.
In addition to the provincial mergers, districts were abolished, and wards were merged. Ho Chi Minh City was divided into 22 districts and a sub-city before the merger, which were subdivided into wards. The districts have now been abolished, and the expanded city now has 168 wards and communes. Here is a full map of the wards and communes of HCMC.
I mention this because this report will mainly cover central Ho Chi Minh City. I usually do a report for Vung Tau, but I am still getting my head around the fact that Vung Tau is now in Ho Chi Minh City. I also have a trip planned for Binh Duong (or what used to be Binh Duong), but that will also be separate from this report.
The merger means that the old addresses are now redundant, though it will be some time before people get used to not having a district to refer to an area.
Districts and wards performed similar functions, so the restructuring of local government has removed a layer of bureaucracy that will ultimately save money.
The main problem is that having a city with 168 subdivisions makes identifying an area in the city difficult, as no one is going to remember all of those names. I wrote an article about redrawing new districts and geographical zones in Ho Chi Minh City.
The two dragon towers restart
I have been keeping track of One Central HCM (formerly Spirit of Saigon) as it is in the most central location of Ho Chi Minh City opposite Ben Thanh Market.
After a decade of stop-start construction, work is back in full swing. The two towers (240m and 218m) will include apartments and a Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The podium will host a mall, and the basement will be connected to Ben Thanh Station of the HCMC Metro.
The two towers represent dragons, and the cantilevered heads will makes these towers the new landmark of the city when completed.
HCMC becomes an International Financial Center
Vietnam has designated Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang as International Financial Centers of Vietnam. The HCMC IFC will be in the riverfront area of former District 1, and the Thu Thiem New Urban Area on the other side of the river.
The International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC) was launched at its new headquarters at 8 Nguyen Hue Street in February.
The tallest tower that was finished in the last year was the Saigon Marina International Financial Centre. At 240 metres, it is currently the third-tallest building in the city. This was originally known as Sun Tower, but was rebranded to be associated with the IFC.
New towers built in Vietnam are following the same playbook as Chinese towers by being covered in programmable lights. Saigon Marina IFC is lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree at night.
BIDV Tower
It appears that the IFC development has woken up one of the prominent abandoned projects on Nguyen Hue (the street facing the city hall).
The BIDV Tower (a local bank) was announced in 2007, and the site has been a temporary motorbike park for as long as I can remember (at least 2012).
The site now features refreshed advertising that shows what the future tower will look like. The advertising includes the address in the newly-formed Saigon Ward, which is in what used to be District 1.
Reclaiming land of stalled and abandoned projects
Central Ho Chi Minh City has been characterised by blue construction fences at prominent locations (the so-called golden land plots). The city has now moved to either reclaim the land or at least turn it into temporary parks until work can resume.
On Nguyen Hue (not far from BIDV Tower) is the stalled/abandoned Okura Prestige Saigon.
This hotel is at the former location of the Saigon Tax Trade Centre. The centre was demolished, but work on the hotel never began. After years of being an eyesore on one of the most prominent corners of the city, the blue construction fences were removed in early 2026.
The land has now been turned into a temporary park with trees that can be easily transported. It will be interesting to see how long this park remains.
The triangle of golden land at the corner of Le Loi and Nam Ky Khoi Nghia has also had its blue fences removed and turned into a park. This plot has been abandoned for so long that trees have grown in it.
This was originally going to be the Saigon Jewelry Center (SJC) Tower.
Behind the One Central HCM project is the abandoned Eximbank Tower project. The blue fence has been moved in slightly, and the new space was used to set up Tet decorations in January.
The Phan Dinh Phung Stadium was planned to replace the dilapidated sports facility on the same site.
The sports centre was demolished, and then the familiar blue fence surrounded the block for the next decade.
The stalled project has now been turned into a temporary park.
This has been a good idea to convert idle land into parks, but they are temporary parks. The city now runs the risk of people getting used to these parks, and then being disappointed when the parks are removed when the original projects resume.
COVID-19 memorial park
One plot of idle land that has been turned into a permanent park is the COVID-19 memorial park at 1 Ly Thai To Street. This land included 7 abandoned villas, and 3 of the villas were demolished to make way for the park. The remaining villas have been renovated and incorporated into the park as display centres and cafes.
I visited the week it opened, and there was a display of life in the city during Covid.
The centrepiece of the park is the teardrop fountain.
I have gone past this plot of land many times over the years, and I didn’t appreciate how big it was. The new park has a good combination of public space and old trees.
Saigon River Pedestrian Bridge
The IFC development has given a new lease of life to the Thu Thiem area (more on that below). One of the projects I am most looking forward to is the pedestrian bridge that will connect the old city with the new.
The bridge project broke ground in March 2025, and the bridge is slowly taking shape on both sides of the river.
The Thu Thiem New Urban Area is gaining momentum
The Thu Thiem New Urban Area was billed as the Pudong of Southeast Asia, but it has been mired in controversies and delays for decades. The mood feels different this year with the launch of the IFC, though there are still some notable project delays.
This image at one of the construction sites shows what Thu Thiem might look like in the future.
One of the notable delays has been at the Empire City site. This project includes a signature tower by Büro Ole Scheeren.
Some sections are completed and lived in, and another stage is under construction.
The signature tower has still not begun construction. The project has been bogged down in land title issues and a disputed tax bill.
Another promising project that can’t seem to get off the ground is Eco Smart City by Lotte. This project was supposed to begin construction over a decade ago, but Lotte threatened to abandon the project last year. They have since recommitted to the project, though with a reduced stake.
The Lotte project is of a similar scale to One Bangkok, which began construction in March 2018 and opened in October 2024.
The International Financial Center has given new momentum to Thu Thiem, and on April 29, the city broke ground on the City Center Square and Administrative Center project.
This imposing building will be the new city hall of HCMC, replacing the famous French Hôtel de Ville in the old city area (which will become a tourist site).
There will be a park with a landscaped lake behind the admin building. The tall building on the left of the image below is the Empire City signature tower (333 metres, with speculation of it being built higher). The tallest tower in the image is a proposed 99-story financial tower, which is planned to be 500 metres.
I visited the site two days after the groundbreaking ceremony, and there were construction workers on the site. Here is the view from the back of the admin centre, which will be the park and lake area.
These new renders of Thu Thiem look promising, but it’s hard to get excited when there are still so many unresolved issues. In the first image of the admin center, there is an oddly-shaped building on the riverfront. This is the City Planning Exhibition Center, which has remained in an unfinished state for a decade. There was an announcement last year that the unfinished project will be repaired.
I haven’t mentioned any metro projects in this article, as I will publish that in a separate report. Thu Thiem will play an important role in future railway development in HCMC, as it is the site of the future high-speed railway station and a hub for trains to the future Long Thanh Airport. The Thu Thiem area has so many projects going on that I will have to make it a separate report next year.
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