At a working session with Ho Chi Minh City’s key leaders on June 23, PM Phuc said it is a must for the city to build an innovative economy, become a momentum for sustainable development and drive the country’s intensive international integration.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaking at a working session with Ho Chi Minh City’s key leaders on June 23
He emphasized core values the Southern hub should look towards, including smart urban infrastructure, smart management, technocracy, inclusive growth and equal development opportunities for all people.
“Ho Chi Minh City’s key objective is to generate jobs with increasing incomes, create sustainable collection sources for State budget and leave no one behind development,” the Government leader stressed.
PM Phuc voiced his hope that Ho Chi Minh City will put forth long-term planning schemes which target sustainable development, and urged the locality to review its land use plan and report the results to the PM in August.
The PM requested Ho Chi Minh City to take the lead in terms of administrative reform, strive to enter the list of the five localities with the best provincial competitiveness index, and create new breakthroughs in private investment.
To that end, Ho Chi Minh City, together with the capital city of Hanoi, should pioneer in start-up and innovation and become an international center of education and health care, he said.
The government leader asked the municipal Party Organization and administration to focus efforts on removing bottlenecks hindering the city’s socio-economic development, especially in transport infrastructure, and renew thoughts. “The Government will accompany the city’s innovations,” he affirmed.
At the meeting, PM Phuc also praised the city’s contributions to the country’s GDP and state budget collection.
In the first half of this year, Ho Chi Minh City’s economy grew 7.76 percent as compared with 7.47 percent in the same period last year, with the best performers being services, industry, construction, and agriculture. It is a huge task for the city to reach the economic growth rate of 8.5 percent set for the last six months and the following years, the leader said.
PM Phuc also pointed out a range of limitations such as decreased competitiveness index and below-average readings of unofficial spending, equal competitiveness, legal institutions and systematic dynamism. At the same time, the city has to face with such problems as flooding, traffic jams and pollution, he said.
Regarding the expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, PM Phuc urged relevant agencies and units to promptly seek experts and organizations to make scientific assessments so as to soon implement the project, explaining that the Long Thanh International Airport project, which aims to reduce the overload of Tan Son Nhat airport, is scheduled to be completed in 2025-2027.
Representatives from ministries and agencies held that Ho Chi Minh City has become an attractive destination for investors and stressed the need for the locality to select suitable projects and prioritize urgent programs in order to create impulses for its growth.
They also suggested Ho Chi Minh City intensify the decentralization of management at different levels and finalize a legal framework, thus giving a face-lift for the locality.
Speaking at the working session, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said that Ho Chi Minh City commits to exert all-out efforts to complete socio-economic targets and over fulfill the target of State budget collection.
Ho Chi Minh City will continue with administrative reform and strive to launch the granting of investment licences under the one-stop model in September, in tandem with settling pressing issues like waste and traffic jams.
Source: VNA