Inside Hanoi's $4.2 Billion Smart City Plan: Homes, Clean Energy and a 108-Story Tower

A new urban district takes shape north of Hanoi

A $4.2 billion development backed by Japan's Sumitomo Corporation and Vietnam's BRG Group aims to build a new urban district on 272 hectares in Dong Anh, north of central Hanoi. The North Hanoi Smart City plan combines housing, schools, hospitals, businesses and green spaces with digital services and a proposed tower rising 108 stories.

The development is planned in five phases over nine years, with completion targeted for 2032. Its ambitions extend beyond new buildings: the partners want to address traffic congestion, energy use, healthcare, education and environmental pressures while creating a new symbol of cooperation between Vietnam and Japan.

Years of planning and delays have shaped its progress. Work is advancing, but land clearance, land pricing, legal procedures and infrastructure approvals remain central to turning the plans into a functioning community. By mid-2024, about 92% of land clearance had been completed.

The project also carries a demanding environmental ambition: becoming Vietnam's first urban area with net carbon emissions of zero. That means cutting emissions and balancing those that remain through measures such as carbon credits. Renewable energy, efficient buildings and better management of electricity are intended to support that goal.

For future residents, the practical promise is a place where homes, workplaces, medical care, schools and public spaces are developed together. As of August 20, 2025, the timetable and proposed services remain central to the project's promise, while its history of delays makes delivery an equally important part of the story.

Why the location matters

The site lies at the foot of Nhat Tan Bridge, on the connection between central Hanoi and Noi Bai International Airport. Its position gives the project a role as a gateway between the capital and international arrivals, alongside its intended function as a residential and commercial district.

The development area is also framed by major transport routes, including the Thang Long and Long Bien bridges. Those connections are part of the reason the site is considered strategically useful for an urban project of this scale.

The 272 hectares are described as roughly the size of five Tokyo Disneylands. Across that area, the plan brings together homes, shops, education, healthcare, recreation and public infrastructure. Developing these uses together is intended to create a community with many daily needs close at hand.

Road connections alone are only one part of the transport plan. The partners also intend to use smart mobility services, placing transport alongside energy, security and public services within the city's digital infrastructure.

Five phases leading toward 2032

North Hanoi Smart City Development Investment JSC, the joint venture between BRG Group and Sumitomo Corporation, is responsible for the development. Its five phases divide the large site into successive areas of construction.

The first four phases concentrate on the infrastructure of everyday urban life: residential buildings, schools, hospitals, green spaces and commercial areas. The fifth phase contains the proposed financial tower and a major shopping mall.

• Phase 1 covers 72.7 hectares, with initial housing and public amenities.
• Phase 2 covers 67.5 hectares, expanding housing, schools and green spaces.
• Phase 3 covers 65.7 hectares, adding infrastructure and community facilities.
• Phase 4 covers 30.2 hectares, with further commercial and recreational development.
• Phase 5 covers 35.3 hectares, including the financial tower rising 108 stories and a major shopping mall.

The published phase areas total 271.4 hectares, close to the project's stated size of 272 hectares. The first four phases account for 236.1 hectares, showing how much of the site is assigned to development before the final tower and shopping mall phase.

The plan set a goal of accommodating around 30,000 residents by 2025, with the population expected to grow as development continued. No confirmed figure for residents already living there was given.

The main dates and milestones place the ambition alongside the work still required:

• By mid-2024, about 92% of land clearance had been completed.
• For 2025, the plan envisaged accommodating around 30,000 residents.
• By 2030, Sumitomo aims to achieve carbon neutrality at all its sites.
• By 2032, the five phases of the smart city are targeted for completion.
• By 2050, Vietnam aims to reach net zero emissions nationally.

Japanese partners will help build the digital backbone

Sumitomo has assembled a consortium of six Japanese companies for the project. The companies named include NTT Communications, TEPCO Power Grid, NEC Corporation, Hakuhodo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering.

The partners bring capabilities in telecommunications, electricity grids, information technology and engineering. Their task is to help connect the physical city, including buildings, utilities and transport, with the systems used to manage it.

A smart city uses digital tools to support services that people depend on each day. In North Hanoi, the proposed applications cover mobility, security, energy management, healthcare and disaster prevention. Residents are expected to have access to services through applications designed to improve safety, convenience and community participation.

The plan also uses an open platform approach. In simple terms, the intention is to let a range of businesses develop services around the city's digital systems, creating room for startups as well as established companies.

That approach is intended to encourage innovation and economic activity within the development. Cooperation with local stakeholders is also part of the plan, so that services and the urban environment can develop around the needs of the people who use them.

Green spaces, waterways and public amenities are meant to sit alongside the technology. The intended living environment combines reliable infrastructure with places for recreation and community life, while systems for disaster prevention support the goal of resilience.

How the carbon neutrality plan would work

BRG Group, Sumitomo Corporation and other partners signed a memorandum of understanding at the Asia Zero Emission Community Leaders Meeting, known as AZEC. The agreement concerns decarbonizing both North Hanoi Smart City and the adjacent Thang Long Industrial Park.

Decarbonizing means reducing the greenhouse gas emissions linked to activities such as producing and using energy. For this development, the proposed measures include renewable electricity, energy savings and carbon credits to balance emissions that remain.

Solar and biomass energy are intended to provide 30% to 40% of the city's electricity needs. Biomass produces energy from organic material. On those figures, other electricity sources would still need to meet 60% to 70% of demand, making energy efficiency and the remaining power supply important parts of the plan.

The partners also propose energy saving solutions and sustainable energy cycles. Carbon credits would be used to offset remaining emissions, meaning that credited emissions reductions would help balance the carbon still associated with the development.

Sumitomo's target of carbon neutrality at all its sites by 2030 sits alongside Vietnam's national goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The city is therefore being presented as part of both a corporate programme and the country's longer term environmental ambitions.

Nguyen Thi Nga, chair of BRG Group, has described the development's role as a model for sustainable urban development in Vietnam and the wider ASEAN region. The project's ambitions have also been presented in global terms, including an aspiration to become the world's first urban area with net carbon emissions of zero.

Those environmental goals are part of the proposed development. The planned combination of renewable energy, lower consumption and offsets explains how the partners intend to pursue them.

The financial tower at the centre of the plan

A financial tower rising 108 stories is planned as the development's most visible landmark. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, known as SOM, designed the proposed building after being selected through an international design competition.

The tower is intended to become Vietnam's tallest building and one of the highest in Southeast Asia. Its role extends beyond its height: the plan presents it as a gateway landmark and a centre of daily activity for thousands of people.

The design combines different uses within the skyscraper and places it beside a large public park. It draws on Vietnamese culture and nature, including forms and patterns associated with native plants and traditional architecture.

Two independent structures are connected by a vertical bridge. The arrangement is intended to create shared spaces while improving access to daylight and air. Sky gardens are planned hundreds of feet above the ground, bringing planted areas into the upper levels.

The proposed environmental features include natural ventilation strategies and wind turbines to generate renewable electricity. Natural ventilation uses the movement of air to help make indoor spaces comfortable, reducing reliance on mechanical cooling where the design allows.

The tower belongs to the final phase of development, alongside the shopping mall. Its promised position in Vietnam's skyline therefore depends on the completion of the wider project and the regulatory requirements governing construction.

A symbol of Vietnam and Japan's partnership

Yukihito Honda, managing executive officer at Sumitomo Corporation, has linked the smart city to the relationship between Vietnam and Japan. During meetings with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, he pointed to Sumitomo's established presence in Vietnam and its commitment across energy, railways and smart cities.

Honda described the development's intended diplomatic significance to the prime minister:

The North Hanoi Smart City will be crafted into a symbol of the deepening cooperation between Vietnam and Japan,

Prime Minister Chinh praised Sumitomo's investments and reaffirmed government support for the project. He called for close cooperation to achieve timely and effective implementation.

The partnership combines a Vietnamese developer with a Japanese corporation and specialist companies. Its ambition is to bring investment, engineering and digital services into one large urban development, while making the project a visible expression of relations between the two countries.

Sumitomo's wider investment strategy in Vietnam includes industrial parks, infrastructure and energy. North Hanoi Smart City is presented as a flagship for the company's commitment to growth that is sustainable and inclusive.

Homes, healthcare and the economic promise

The development is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and attract billions in investment. Its planned mix of residential, commercial, educational and healthcare facilities is intended to support a community that can meet many of its own needs.

Japan's International Healthcare and Welfare Group, known as IHW, has proposed a hospital intended to provide a high standard of care. The proposal adds a healthcare element to the project's broader ambition to attract residents, businesses and international cooperation.

Schools, public amenities and green spaces are also central to that ambition. For families, the practical value would come from access to services as well as the quality of individual homes. For companies, the open digital platform is intended to create opportunities to develop and supply new services.

The developers expect benefits to extend into Hanoi's economy and the surrounding region. Construction, commercial activity and demand for services are the main ways the project is expected to support growth beyond its boundaries.

The combination of housing, employment, public facilities and digital infrastructure is intended to set new standards for urban living in Southeast Asia. Delivery of those elements together will determine the kind of community that emerges, rather than the tower alone.

Land clearance and approvals remain central

Land clearance, land pricing and legal procedures have slowed the development. The mid-2024 figure of about 92% clearance left roughly 8% still to be completed, while investors and local authorities continued working on outstanding issues.

Sumitomo President and CEO Shingo Ueno has asked Hanoi's municipal government to speed up site clearance and infrastructure approvals. Those steps matter because the development requires land and permissions before its planned buildings and services can be delivered.

Hanoi Chairman Tran Sy Thanh expressed the municipal government's support and linked the project to the capital's development:

Municipal authorities will collaborate to help the project implementation as it plays a key role in Hanoi's future development,

The planning has also undergone adjustments to building heights to comply with aviation regulations. The site's connection to the airport is a commercial advantage, while aviation requirements also shape what can be built.

Government support and cooperation between the partners remain part of the effort to keep the project on schedule. The targeted completion date is 2032, after a development process already affected by years of planning and delays.

What the project would change for Hanoi

North Hanoi Smart City brings several of the capital's urban challenges into one development plan: traffic congestion, pollution, resource management, access to services and community life. Its response combines physical infrastructure, green areas and digital management rather than treating each as a separate undertaking.

The project has attracted attention from government leaders in Vietnam and Japan and from international specialists in urban planning and architecture. Its scale, proposed landmark tower and environmental ambitions are central to that interest.

The partners want the development to become a benchmark for Vietnam and ASEAN, and a place where approaches to sustainable urban living can be tested in practice. The open platform for companies and cooperation with local stakeholders are intended to allow the district to evolve as its population and needs grow.

For Hanoi, the concrete prospect is a large new district linking homes, jobs and services near a major airport route. For the developers, the task is to connect that promise with completed infrastructure, resolved land issues and delivery of the environmental measures described in the plan.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Corporation and BRG Group are backing the $4.2 billion North Hanoi Smart City project on 272 hectares in Dong Anh.
• Five phases are planned over nine years, with completion targeted for 2032.
• The plan envisaged around 30,000 residents by 2025, followed by further population growth.
• Solar and biomass energy are intended to meet 30% to 40% of electricity needs, alongside energy savings and carbon offsets.
• SOM designed the proposed financial tower rising 108 stories, intended to become Vietnam's tallest building.
• About 92% of land clearance was complete by mid-2024. Land pricing, legal procedures and approvals have contributed to delays.
• The development combines housing, education, healthcare, businesses and digital services as a major project in Vietnam and Japan's economic partnership.