Spain’s region shares experience in sustainable urban development with Hanoi hinh anh 1Vice Chairman of Hanoi's People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu (R) receives Minister of Territory and Sustainability of Catalonia Damià Calvet i Valera (Source: kinhtedothi.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi wants to learn from experience from the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia to address challenges in building a civilised and sustainable city.

Hanoi is facing major challenges related to pollution, traffic jams and waste treatment, said Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu while receiving a delegation from Catalonia led by Minister of Territory and Sustainability Damià Calvet i Valera on November 12.

He added Hanoi is building eight urban railways, with the first expected to be put into operation late this year.

Damià Calvet stated the administration structure of Catalonia is not similar to Hanoi’s, but both share similar targets of climate change response, environmental protection and sustainable development.

According to him, Catalonia is implementing infrastructure management policies for sustainable development. It is also facing challenges related to public transport, waste treatment and pollution.

Therefore, the region is focusing on developing multimodal transport using advanced technology, he said, adding that it also bans personal vehicles from places with high traffic density at a certain time of the day and replaces vehicles using normal fuel with those using clean fuel or electricity.

Modern technology is also used in water supply and waste treatment, he said.

With its experience in building a model urban area, Catalonia is willing to support Hanoi’s development, he affirmed.

Catalonia comprises Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. The region has an average annual GDP of more than 100 billion USD. Meanwhile, Hanoi is home to more than 10 million people with rapid urbanisation. The city welcomes about 20 million tourists, including 5 million foreigners, each year.-VNA 
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