Thành phố Đà Lạt and 4 districts to be merged into one city, quadrupling its current size
In an effort to expand the urban area, the city of Đà Lạt, along with four surrounding districts, will be merged into one city, increasing its size fourfold. This information was announced in document number 1725/UBND-NC1 dated March 6, 2024. The People’s Committee of Lâm Đồng province has entrusted the Department of Internal Affairs with the task of being the project’s investor and overseeing the implementation of the administrative unit rearrangement plan for the 2023-2025 period.
Consolidating Administrative Units for Urban Expansion
Under this plan, the entire natural area and population of three southern districts, Đạ Huoai, Đạ Tẻh, and Cát Tiên, will be merged into one district. Additionally, the district of Lạc Dương will be incorporated into the city of Đà Lạt, expanding its urban space. Moreover, five communes, Lộc An, Lộc Thành, Lộc Nam, Tân Lạc, and Lộc Tân, from the Bảo Lâm district will be incorporated into the city of Bảo Lộc, further expanding its urban area.
The city of Đà Lạt will take the lead in collaborating with the People’s Committee of Lạc Dương district to develop an urban classification plan for the newly formed administrative urban areas. The People’s Committee of Lạc Dương will also develop a dossier that meets the required standards for urban infrastructure development in the Lang Biang ward. This includes upgrading the town of Lạc Dương to the status of Lang Biang ward, thus expanding the urban space of Đà Lạt.
Similarly, the People’s Committee of Bảo Lộc city will take charge of cooperating with the People’s Committee of Bảo Lâm district to develop a dossier that meets the required standards for urban infrastructure development in the Lộc Nga ward, which includes the communes of Tân Lạc and Lộc Nga. Additionally, the commune of Lộc Châu will be upgraded to the status of Lộc Châu ward.
District Reorganization for Effective Urban Planning
The People’s Committee of Đơn Dương district will be responsible for merging the Quảng Lập commune into the Pró commune. The People’s Committee of Đạ Huoai district will merge the Đoàn Kết and Đạ Ploa communes, the Hà Lâm and Phước Lộc communes, and the Đạ Tồn and Đạ Oai communes. Similarly, the People’s Committee of Đạ Tẻh district will merge the Triệu Hải commune into the Quảng Trị commune.
According to the plan outlined in Decision No. 8358/KH-UBND issued by the provincial People’s Committee on September 25, 2023, as part of the administrative unit rearrangement plan for the 2023-2025 period, the entire natural area and population of Lạc Dương district, which is currently a rural administrative unit, will be merged into the urban administrative unit of Đà Lạt to expand its urban space.
The Birth of a New City
Currently, Đà Lạt has an area of nearly 400 km2, with 12 wards and 4 communes. Lạc Dương district, on the other hand, has 6 communes and a town, making it more than three times the size of Đà Lạt. However, a large portion of Lạc Dương district is covered by forests, resulting in a low level of urbanization.
Both Đà Lạt and Lạc Dương are situated on the Lâm Viên plateau. With the merger of Lạc Dương district into the city of Đà Lạt, a new city will be formed, with an administrative boundary four times larger than the current city. The new city will have administrative boundaries that border the provinces of Khánh Hòa and Đắk Lắk.
After the reorganization, the newly established administrative units formed through the merger of the three districts will have a natural area of 1,448.48 km2, surpassing the standard of 850 km2, an achievement of 170.4%. The population scale will reach 146,064 people, exceeding the standard of 80,000 people per district, with an achievement of 182.58%.
According to the outlined plan, by 2024, Lâm Đồng province will have completed the rearrangement of administrative units at the district and commune levels. During this phase, efforts will be made to reorganize and assemble the entire workforce, including civil servants and laborers, within these administrative bodies.