The targets were set at a meeting of the municipal People’s Committee on January 8, which also aims for 129.2 million tons of cargo to be handled at ports and 47 communes to be recognized as new-style rural areas.
The city hopes to welcome more than 9 million tourists and attract USD 1.5 billion in foreign direct investment in the year.
Hai Phong has put forth various solutions to develop the economy in tandem with economic restructuring and growth model reforms, with the private sector a key economic driver.
The city will also work to ensure an equal business environment, improve the quality of human resources and streamline administrative procedures, heard the meeting.
In his remarks, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Le Van Thanh said Hai Phong has been a leading locality in development over the past three years.
Nguyen Van Tung, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said budget collection and spending is an important task in 2019 and asked agencies to review land use in the city and supervise sectors which underpay taxes, such as transportation, restaurants and hotels.
He also urged agencies and localities to implement plans for the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, with attention paid to taking care of social policy beneficiaries.
Hai Phong’s economic growth has been relatively fast, about 1.68 times higher than the national average. In 2017, the economy expanded 4.27 times from 2003’s figure, per capita GDP reached USD 3,964, 1.54 times more than the national average and up 5.43 times from 2003.
Breakthroughs have been recorded in the industrial sector as many industrial parks and major projects, such as those of Nomura or Vinfast, have been launched, consolidating Hai Phong’s role as one of Vietnam’s key industrial hubs.
Nearly VND 488 trillion (USD 21 billion) of investment was poured into the city by Vietnamese and foreign businesses between 2003 and 2017, up 16.6 percent annually.
Source: VNA