With its potential and advantages in geographic location, transportation infrastructure, modern, synchronized and industrial development, Thuan An city has always strived to promote the growth of trade and services, aiming to be a socio-economic center of the province.
Significant potential
Thuan An city is strategically located as a gateway connecting Binh Duong province with Ho Chi Minh city. This advantage drives the city’s trade and service sector to develop rapidly, accelerating urban development in line with the regional spatial plan. It lays the foundation for Thuan An to become a service urban center, focusing on infrastructure completion, environmental protection and improvement, enhancing the quality of life for residents.
Another advantage is the presence of industrial parks within the city, including the exemplary Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park I, which meets international standards. The city also boasts a sizable port and warehouse cluster service system, opening up new service sectors with high added value. Thuan An is home to dozens of logistics companies, including large-scale enterprises like Mapletree (Singapore), Southern Logistics Company and An Son Port Warehouse Complex.
Since being upgraded to a city in 2020 under the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Resolution No. 857/NQ-UBTVQH14, Thuan An has witnessed significant positive changes, with concentrated investment in infrastructure development transforming its urban image. Major commercial centers, supermarkets and shopping complexes such as Lotte Mart, Aeon, Mega Market, The Gioi Di Dong, Nguyen Kim, international hospitals and banks have all established a presence in Thuan An, reflecting the strong growth of the trade and service sector. Additionally, industrial parks in the city have attracted high-quality domestic and foreign investment projects, helping sustain the local robust economic growth.
Nguyen Thanh Tam, Vice Secretary of Thuan An city’s Party Committee and Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee stated that the city has encouraged and attracted investment in trade and services, especially in logistics, postal and telecommunications, finance and banking, healthcare and tourism linked to industrial parks and residential areas. The city has formed up a diverse commercial network. Furthermore, by implementing plans to develop markets, supermarkets and commercial centers, Thuan An has actively promoted the campaign of "Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods" which has positively shifted societal attitudes towards domestic products, supporting enterprises in better exploiting the domestic market, enhancing competitiveness and building brand values.
Since 2020, Thuan An’s urban image has undergone comprehensive transformation from transportation and technical infrastructure to residential areas and trade and services, creating a solid foundation for sustainable, balanced development and affirming its position as an important socio-economic center of Binh Duong province.
Exploiting riverside advantages
Thuan An has oriented the development of the Saigon River riverside area within its territory into a mixed-use trade and service zone. This will be a highlight in attracting new investment, decisively shifting the local economy towards trade and services. This orientation will create a symmetrical axis along the Saigon River with Ho Chi Minh city and stimulate eco-tourism development in Thuan An, fully exploiting existing potential and boosting river tourism in the Southeastern region.
Mr. Tam also said that Thuan An will develop the Saigon River urban corridor with mixed-use and high-rise buildings. The Saigon River runs about 13.6 kilometers through the wards of Vinh Phu, Lai Thieu, Binh Nham and An Son commune. According to the plan, the riverside road will connect from Ba Lua bridge in Thu Dau Mot city to Vinh Binh bridge in Ho Chi Minh city with a total length of 13.2 km. Projects implemented along the Saigon riverside include the An Son residential and resettlement area; Eden high-rise housing area; Saigon riverside park and inland waterway ports and terminals. The Saigon River corridor from Vinh Binh bridge to An Sơn port in Thuan An city has been planned as a key landscape axis of the city. This corridor significantly contributes to developing riverside services and creating “golden land” for high-quality urban development.
Mr. Tam added that the riverside corridor will feature mixed-use, multi-functional high-rise buildings such as trade and services, restaurants, hotels and high-quality residential-service complexes linked to the Saigon River. Additionally, existing residential areas and rental housing will be upgraded, focusing on infrastructure improvement, especially transportation and drainage. Thuan An also plans to restore the Lai Thieu orchard and organize the annual Lai Thieu ripe fruit festival to attract tourists through tours connecting with provinces and cities in the Southeastern region.
It is expected that with these correct orientations, Thuan An’s trade and service sector will make a breakthrough in the new period, with the Saigon riverside area becoming a modern, large-scale and high-quality center for entertainment, resort and shopping.
Thuan An has always identified trade and services as a key factor in socio-economic development. The trade-service activities in the city have steadily grown, providing a large quantity of goods to meet consumer demand. In the early months of 2025 alone, the city’s total retail sales of goods and service revenue reached nearly VND 40,000 billion. Currently, the whole city is home to about 32,843 trade-service business households, 5 supermarkets, 3 shopping centers, 20 planned markets, 64 convenience stores, 46 cooperative groups and 3 linkage groups |
Reported by Phuong Anh-Duong Huyen-Translated by Kim Tin
