HA NOI — Three groups of international consultants yesterday proposed urban planning ideas for the enlarged capital at a meeting with the Government and the city’s newly elected administration.

The meeting occurred in the wake of last week’s merger of the capital with neighbouring Ha Tay Province.

According to Japan-based Arata Isozaki and Netherlands-based Metropolitan Architecture, Ha Noi should focus on developing satellite cities to limit the negative effects, such as heavy traffic and pollution, that result from having a very large population.

South Korea’s Posco E&C and Jina Architect and the US’s Perkins Eastman envisioned a "green" Ha Noi and suggested the city build on 40 per cent of its area and devote the rest to planting trees.

RTKL (Architects Designers Planners Engineers Consultants) from the US suggested that Ha Noi build five satellite cities with each city geared toward a specific area like education, healthcare, tourism or technology.

It also emphasized the development of transport infrastructure and natural landscaping in the city.

Deputy Minister of Construction Tran Ngoc Chinh said that based on the presentations, the Prime Minister would appoint the international consultant with the idea best suited for the city.

The international consultants were picked out of 12 companies from the UK, US, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Singapore.