Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that urban planning must be exact and scientific to ensure sustainable development while receiving a delegation of the Vietnam Urban Development Planning Association (VUDPA) led by its President Nguyen The Ba in Hanoi on Nov. 5.

Planning has an important role in the success of national industrialisation and modernisation as well as urbanisation, said PM Dung. He suggested the association continue to act as a consultant and help in assessing urban planning work.

However, in reality, the urgent demands of the current situation require the association to get involved in urban planning projects and in creating and finalising regulations, policies and management mechanisms, he added.

The PM highlighted the VUDPA’s contributions to national construction and development over the past decade.

He took the occasion to ask the association to branch out beyond its current functions and tasks to match the nation’s new requirements and finalise its operational structure from central to local levels.

The VUDPA should collaborate with the Ministry of Construction to take part in the capital city planning scheme to lay a foundation for the capital city’s investment and development, said the PM.

The VUDPA’s leader informed the PM of his association’s preparations for its third congress slated for Nov. 7 and 8 in Hanoi and its programme to mark Vietnam’s Urban Day (Nov. 8)./.