The Vietnamese government has turned to Bendigo for inspiration as it looks to plan for the future of its most populous city.
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RMIT University brought a delegation of 27 high-ranking Communist Party officials to Bendigo today to learn about decentralisation, education executive Jason Cotton said.
“As Ho Chi Minh City grows and is getting increasingly chocked with traffic we’re showing the delegation about the infrastructure being rolled out with Plan Melbourne,” he said.
The university’s 10-day ‘transformational leadership for the public sector’ course often brings government groups from China and Vietnam to Melbourne. The course includes trips to both Bendigo and Ballarat to see how the state is addressing a population growth by promoting regional development.
“Bendigo has been identified as a regional growth centre,” Mr Cotton said.
“It’s got a strong services sector, it’s had government offices moved out here, it’s got some unique private/public funding models and a strong financial base.
“Then there’s the history of the gold rush, which is interesting and also the pristine environment and the notion of a ‘liveable city’”.
City of Greater Bendigo mayor Rod Fyffe welcomed the visitors in Town Hall, providing a snapshot of the city through a translator. He drew a polite chuckle at some signature ‘Dad jokes’ and an appreciative murmur from the crowd when boasting about Sun Loong – the longest imperial dragon in the world.
“[Bendigo] was also home to the founding father of the county’s constitution,” Cr Fyffe said. “He wasn’t me.”
The impressively titled planning and investment director for the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Su Ngoc Anh, said the delegation had taken a couple of teachings from their visit.
“The first thing was a warm welcome from a friendly city council,” Mr Ngoc Anh said. “We respect the hard work that has been done over a long history to maintain economic growth and to preserve the heritage of the city.
“We can see that Bendigo is harmonising many important factors – economic growth, jobs, cultural attractions and maintaining its environment.”
Then there was the magic word again.
“It is a liveable city,” Mr Ngoc Anh said.
The two parties exchanged gifts, with Cr Fyffe presenting a Bendigo badge to each of the delegates.
The Vietnamese delegation, however, will have to significantly scale up any lessons learnt in Victoria – Ho Chi Minh City’s population is currently more than 10 million and growing.