Binh Duong New City – Vietnam’s Shiny New City
Exploring Vietnam: Binh Duong New City
In 2005, construction began on what will eventually be the administrative capital of Binh Duong. I’ve watched, over the past 2 years, as new restaurants, hotels, and apartment buildings have popped up. The heart of the city is the huge administrative building along with the convention center next to it. These new and modern buildings are an unusual sight in Vietnam.
Around the corner, you will find a few restaurants including some Chinese and Korean. The Becamex Hotel is also there with a beautiful cafe/restaurant. Down the highway is Sora Gardens, a set of giant residential buildings with nice new apartment units, a pool, a restaurant, and a Family Mart convenience store. As of now, this is one of the more popular places to live in Binh Duong New City. There are plenty of other options though. Aroma is another apartment complex with many residents including western teachers teaching at Binh Duong New City’s Eastern International University and Singapore International School. If you want to stay away from the giant apartment buildings, it’s possible to rent one of the many vacant houses around the city. Most of them have space to open a business on the main floor, and live above it. Currently, there are a ton of these spaces that are available, and in an excellent locations – across the highway from the administrative building.
The state-owned Becamex company has played a big part in building up New City Binh Duong. The roads surrounding the city were built by Becamex. There are many offices and apartment buildings built by them. They’ve also teamed up with Japanese company, Tokyu to establish a pretty decent bus system for the area. There are bus stops throughout Thu Dau Mot, the capital of Binh Duong, that allow you to take a bus into the New City at any time of the day. The buses are clean, energy efficient, and run by a well-trained driver.
When it comes to working in New City, most people either work at the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park 2, or the administrative center. Unfortunately, a lot of these people aren’t living in the area. They live outside of the city where there are more options for food and other necessities.
By 2020, Binh Duong New City is suppose to fully be the administrative capital of Binh Duong province. More jobs will be coming to the city, so hopefully more people will be moving to the city. Vietnam has worked with Japan, Australia, and Singapore to make New City a green city. It doesn’t feel like Vietnam, but most of the reasons for this aren’t necessarily negative: the spaciousness, the green-spaces, the modernness, and the quietness. Whether investing your money in the city is a good idea, I don’t know, but I’m excited to see what the city will be like in a few years.