Copenhagen (VNA) - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam, together with King Frederik X of Denmark, visited the Lynetteholm artificial peninsula project and a major new urban area in Copenhagen on the morning of October 21 (local time), as part of his state visit to Denmark.
Lynetteholm is one of Denmark’s largest urban development and climate change adaptation projects. Located in the Copenhagen harbour area, facing the Øresund Strait, the project was approved by the Danish Parliament in 2021, with construction commencing in 2022. Covering an area of approximately 2.75 square kilometres (275 hectares), the project is expected to be fully completed by 2070.
The project aims to achieve three main objectives: protecting Copenhagen against the risks of rising sea levels, storms and flooding; developing a modern, green urban area capable of meeting housing needs for nearly 50,000 people and creating approximately 30,000 jobs; and expanding urban space while developing public transport, green infrastructure and coastal ecological areas.
Lynetteholm is considered a symbol of Denmark’s long-term vision of combining sustainable urban development with climate change adaptation, offering valuable lessons for Vietnam’s coastal cities.
General Secretary and President Lam noted that Vietnam has a long coastline, with many cities, economic zones and important infrastructure systems located in coastal areas and low-lying deltas. Rapid urbanisation, together with the increasingly evident impacts of climate change, makes it necessary to bring about a strong shift in thinking on urban planning and development, as well as infrastructure development, towards greener, more integrated and more resilient approaches.
To create opportunities to expand development space, particularly towards the sea, Vietnam has undertaken the restructuring and reorganisation of administrative units at all levels. As a result, 21 of its 34 provinces and centrally-run cities now have coastlines.
This represents a major advantage for tapping the potential and strengths of the sea to promote socio-economic development in individual localities and throughout the country. This includes the establishment and development of urban areas and economic zones, seaport infrastructure and logistics systems, as well as other functional areas along the coast and offshore.
The General Secretary and President said that the experience of Lynetteholm showed that a climate change adaptation project could be designed to simultaneously create new development space, enhance coastal landscapes, generate ecological value and deliver socio-economic benefits.
This approach offers valuable lessons for Vietnam as it studies solutions for coastal urban development and the protection of major economic centres against climate-related risks, he said.
The leader called on relevant agencies to exchange views and study the possibilities for cooperation and learning from Denmark’s experience, turning the discussions held during the visit into concrete cooperation programmes suited to Vietnam’s conditions.
Building on the strong foundation of Vietnam-Denmark relations, particularly the similarities in their orientations towards green growth and sustainable development, General Secretary and President Lam expressed his confidence that cooperation between the two countries in urban planning, infrastructure development and climate change adaptation still holds considerable potential./.
