His administration will work to improve living quality in Ho Chi Minh City, modernise urban administration and motivate young people to work for the city's development, People's Committee chairman-elect Nguyen Thanh Phong has said.

(Photo: SGGP)

Traffic jam and flooding are among pressing issues directly affecting the quality of people's life that chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong has promised to solve (Photo: SGGP)

He was speaking to the media yesterday soon after he was voted in with an 85.1 per cent vote.

"HCM City is on course to become a major economic and commercial hub in Southeast Asia, and has sought the Government's sanction for greater administrative autonomy to achieve a breakthrough," he said.

But since the proposal has not been approved yet, the city would continue to pursue it, the 53-year-old leader said.

The city would focus on establishing linkages with other provinces and cities that have resources to improve its competitiveness and speed up development, he said.

"HCM City will be able to grow faster and become a major centre in Southeast Asia when neighbouring localities' resources are fully utilized."

The strategy is even more germane amid the country's integration with the ASEAN Economic Community, Trans-Pacific Partnership, and multiple free trade agreements, he said.

Young people would play a key role in the city's development, the former secretary of the Central Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and HCM City unit of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union said. Favourable conditions would be created for young people to participate in the city's development, he promised.

In recent years the city had been moving in the right direction with a decline in the shares of agriculture and industry and an increase in the share of services, he said.

Pressing issues directly affecting the quality of people's life, including flooding, road safety, traffic jams, pollution and overloading of hospitals would also get priority, he said. He summed it up by saying urban upgrade would be the top priority.

Being the leader of a city of 10 million and a thriving economic hub had thrust a heavy responsibility on him, he said.

Phong, a native of Ben Tre and former secretary of the province Party Committee, is also a member of the Central Party Committee and deputy secretary of the city Party Committee.

Also yesterday city legislators elected Le Van Khoa, director of the Department of Industry and Trade, and Nguyen Thi Thu, former chairwoman of the HCM City Labour Federation, as vice chairpersons of the People's Committee.

Le Dong Phong, director of the Department of Public Security; Su Ngoc Anh, director of the Department of Planning and Investment; Vo Van Hoan, Chief Officer of the People's Committee; Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the Department of Transport; and Phan Thi Thang, director of the Department of Finance, were voted in as members of the People's Committee.

The lawmakers gave the green light for the demission of office by People's Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan and five deputy chairpersons, Le Manh Ha, Hua Ngoc Thuan, Tat Thanh Cang, Nguyen Huu Tin, and Nguyen Thi Hong.

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