He was speaking while operating the second working day of the 11 session of the 10th city Party Committee.
About business development, he said that HCMC has set the target of having 500,000 businesses by 2020. At present the city has over 300,000 enterprises but they are mainly small and medium scaled. The number of companies in the city’s key economic industries is very low. Of 25,000 businesses registered since early this year, over 30 percent are from real estate field. So he asked which policies are necessary to encourage businesses to invest in key economic industries such as industry, hi-tech, commerce and finance.
Talking about traffic development, Mr. Phong said that from now until 2020 which projects the city should implement, where capital source will be, how much will be mobilized from the state budget and how much from the society. Investment in traffic development should base on regional overall plans. It should be clearly defined that which projects will be built from the central budget, which from local budget and which are the best coordination methods for provinces and cities in a region.
They should intensify connectivity, diversify investment methods and focus on mobilizing all possible resources to solve problems in urban traffic system development, he affirmed.
Director of the Department of Transport Bui Xuan Cuong said that land for traffic development now accounts for 18.5 percent of total urban land area. By 2020, the city needs up to VND550 trillion (US$24.2 billion) for traffic development. At present, the budget funds meet only over 10 percent of demand annually.
He said that the city should have breakthrough financial mechanisms to develop traffic system. Of these, major capital source should be determined to come from the state budget. Other investment method such as BOT and BT have made up only 10 percent of total traffic investment capital for the last years.
Besides the city must have local autonomy right to develop resources from income sources such as toll revenue from vehicles in traffic. The use of another source from businesses investing in urban development projects should be calculated in the upcoming time to ensure direct investment in traffic.
Moreover, the city should take the initiative in calling for investment through urban development bond issue not according to budget guarantee forms and give priority to exploiting land fund along newly built traffic routes. Urban development should be attached to traffic system through urban financial resource mobilization methods. The city should develop urban financial investment companies to mobilize social resources.
