Brief History
In 1969, Can Tho Town was separated from the Can Tho Province but merged back to Can Tho Province in 1971. In 1972, Can Tho Town became Can Tho City under the Southwest Region. After Independence Day, 30th April 1975, the North and the South were united under the Communist Government of Vietnam. The Government decided to merge Can Tho Province, Soc Trang Province, and Can Tho City into Hau Giang Province with Can Tho City as the provincial capital in 1976. The Hau Giang Province was separated into Can Tho Province and Soc Trang Province in 1991 by the Social Republic of Vietnam National Assembly (8th Session).
On 1st January 2004, Can Tho Province was separated into Hau Giang Province and Can Tho City. Since then, Can Tho City became one of 5 central cities of Vietnam with positive achievements related to socio-economic, commerce, scientist development as the lead role of the regional hub in the Mekong Delta. It is a young city established later than others in the country but it has a long history of 130 years of development since the 19th century.
Location
Can Tho city is located on the Hau riverbank with a total area of 1,438.96 km2, accounting for 3.49 per cent of the whole area. The North of the province adjoins at An Giang province; the South adjoins to Hau Giang province; the West adjoins to Kien Giang province, the East adjoins to Dong Thap and Vinh Long province. Can Tho city is located in central of the Mekong Delta, in the trade axis of Long Xuyen quadrangle, Ca Mau peninsula, Dong Thap Muoi, and Ho Chi Minh city. The Can Tho City has a strategically geographical, traffic location as a hub in the Mekong Delta with an international airport, a river port, and the Can Tho Bridge connecting the transportation in the Region.
Demography
The total population of Can Tho City is 1,234,171 (2019) with 50.4 per cent are female and 49.6 per cent are male. The total number of households in the city is 359,375 with an average household size of 3.4.
Economy
Can Tho is considered the economic centre and development engine for the delta region. The city’s economic structure in 2018 is dominated by services (59 per cent of Gross Regional Domestic Product – GRDP), industry and construction (33 per cent), and agriculture/fisheries (8 per cent). There is continued growth in industry (especially agricultural product processing) and high-tech large-scale agriculture. The combined size of the service and industry sectors is projected to reach 98 per cent of the city economy by 2030 (Gov. 2013a). The city strives to become a hub for tourism, trade and goods distribution, ecological and high-tech urban agriculture.
Land Use
Regarding spatial planning, the city will be developed in an integrated, balanced, sustainable manner, in harmony with natural landscapes, and highlighting the identity of a river city, which is a typical ecological feature of the Cửu Long River Delta. In terms of urban expansion, the city emphasises the principle of taking full advantage of the natural terrain, preserving existing rivers and channels, at the same time creating new lakes, ponds, and canals to improve drainage and urban landscape. These targets are consistent with Resolution No.120 of the Government of Vietnam.
Challenges
Located in the tropical – monsoon climate region, Can Tho has two distinct seasons: the rainy season from May to November and the dry season from December to April. The weather in Can Tho city is humid all year round with few storms and no cold season. The average annual temperature is about 28ºC. The average rainfall is 1,500 – 1,800 mm/year. Total hours of sunlight are 2.300 – 2.500 hours. Annual humidity is 82-87 per cent (changed over the years).
The stationary energy makes up the largest portion of the GHG emissions for Can Tho City (78 per cent), followed by transportation (13 per cent) then waste (9 per cent). The industrial (manufacturing/construction) subsector constitutes the largest portion of the total emissions, with significant contributions from both direct emissions in the form of fuel combustion (Scope 1) and indirect emissions in the form of electricity consumption (Scope 2). Another significant subsector within stationary energy is residential, consisting primarily of indirect emissions (Scope 2).
Within the transportation sector, emissions have not been further disaggregated by the subsector due to a lack of availability of this data. Hence, all transportation emissions are represented in the ‘On-road’ subsector. All transportation emissions are direct (Scope 1), primarily from petrol and diesel combustion, while the electric fleet is non-existent or negligible. For the waste sector, solid waste data was available at the city level from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam and used to calculate emissions from solid waste treated in Can Tho City (Scope 1). An estimate for the wastewater emissions was based on population using proxy models built into the CIRIS tool.
Support from GCoM
Can Tho City joined the GCoM on 18 February 2019 and the City was supported by GCoM to prepare the GHG Inventory and Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, as well as the Climate Action Plan.
Based on the completed Climate Action Plan and approved by the City People Committee on 25th November 2021, the city was supported by the GCoM to prepare Funding Proposals to the Transformative Action Program (TAP) and the City GAP Fund on “Low-carbon and climate-resilient agroindustry urban supply chains in Can Tho, Vietnam”.
