Ho Chi Minh City administration has announced that it will launch a contest to design the city's new administrative centre in the city centre.

The central administrative centre is expected to be constructed in the downtown area surrounded by Le Thanh Ton, Pasteur, Ly Tu Trong and Dong Khoi streets in District 1.

The city will spend some 1.2 billion VND (56,904 USD) on contest expenses, according to the city's people's committee.

The winner will receive a prize of 300 million VND (14,226 USD) and the winning design will be copyright protected. The winner will be eligible to make more designs for the administrative centre under contract.

The contest consists of a preliminary round in which the panel of judges will choose seven to nine of the best contestants to go to the final round. The best design will be assessed and selected by the panel of judges in the final round.

The best design will also be reviewed by the panel of judges for improvement, if any, before being approved by the city administration.

Earlier, the HCM City People's Committee instructed the relevant agencies to complete the planning for building the city's new administrative centre in District 1.

The new centre will be located on an 18,000 square metre plot of land.

The centre is expected to be completed by 2020 and will be the workplace for the people's committee and some departments, including departments of Transport and Natural Resources and Environment.

The existing headquarters of the HCM City People's Committee and several old buildings that have architectural value on the land will be carefully preserved, while other buildings will be demolished for the construction of the new administrative centre. The main entrance is to be on Le Thanh Ton Street.-VNA