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Sluggish economy
According to the State Treasury Department in HCMC, in the first two months of the year, public investment disbursement from the city budget was only VND369 bln which is a mere one percent of the target plan. In 2023, HCMC was allocated VND70,518 bln of public investment capital by the Government, including VND13,880 bln from the central budget, VND5,225 bln in local capital, and VND1,413 bln of foreign capital from the central budget.
Most of HCMC's public investment capital is for important infrastructure projects or regional linkages, such as Ring Road 3, National Highway 50, An Phu intersection, and the road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan to Cong Hoa which connects to Tan Son Nhat airport.
Therefore, the sluggish economy of HCMC is not necessarily due to just a lack of money, but it is due to difficulties in investment procedures and overlapping regulations, which makes officials hesitant to take decisions, especially in the handling of many negative cases when they are detected. At a recent meeting of the Prime Minister with HCMC leaders, Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment, said that the economic growth and recovery of HCMC have great significance and are important to the overall growth of the country. Therefore, if the growth momentum of HCMC is continuously decreasing, it is necessary to find the cause and resolve it.
From 2021 up until now, HCMC has only eight newly licensed real estate projects while the average annual rate in the previous periods was 70 projects, with the lowest of 40 projects. Four out of nine key service industries have grown negatively; exports have fallen sharply over the same period; PCI ranks 27th; there is low disbursement of public investment; and 22 Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects are still unresolved.
Talking about the causes, Mr.Nguyen Chi Dung said that besides the general difficulties caused by high global inflation, tight monetary policy, and a lack of synchronization in the domestic policy, a number of new problems have arisen. There are also overlapping issues and emerging issues that are causing disruptions in the market.
Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung suggested that the Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City should set guidelines, directions, and directives to promote the spirit of innovation, take the lead, and protect people that are enterprising. Goals must be specific with clear guidelines and policies, and at the same time, it is necessary to review the work of cadres. In addition, HCMC needs more solutions to resolve difficulties for businesses and manufacturing units.
Lead by spirit
Mr. Huynh Khac Diep, Secretary of the Party Committee of Binh Tan District, said that the economic growth in HCMC had slowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the public duties of different departments and branches also need to be seriously considered. The City Council has had many rounds of supervision, and the People's Committee of HCMC has also established working groups, but the disbursement situation is still not any better.
Referring to the procedures and regulations in coordinating with departments, branches, and districts, Mr. Diep said as in the case of Binh Tan district he had sent petitions three times to departments and branches but did not receive a reply. It was only when they registered to work with the Chairman of the People's Committee of HCMC that departments knew about his proposal.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Party Committee of HCMC, said that there was a situation where officials were afraid of taking responsibility and afraid of tackling difficulties, which led to a backlog of many documents. He said that HCMC has to tackle the situation of officials being late, avoiding responsibilities, being afraid of making mistakes and not daring to take the right actions.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, in order to continue to speed up the progress of key projects, HCMC must implement Directive 13 on strengthening the implementation of public investment projects in order to harmonize, balance, and allocate capital for projects. The Standing Committee of the Party Committee assigns members to act as the heads of working to supervise directly and regularly, monitor, inspect, and speed up the implementation progress of each project and the disbursement of public investment capital in key works and projects. Thereby indulging in prompt reporting on policies to the Standing Board of the Party Committee in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the assigned list, there are 13 working groups to supervise 38 projects. In which, Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, Secretary of the Party Committee of HCMC monitored, inspected, and supervised 3 projects, including the urban railway project line No. 1 from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien; phase 1 project to deal with tidal flooding in the Ho Chi Minh City area to counter climate change which is an anti-flood project costing VND10,000 bln; and another project to improve the environment of Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Nuoc Len canal.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu and Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretaries of the Party Committee of HCMC; Ms. Nguyen Thi Le, Chairwoman of the HCMC People's Council; and Head of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee, Phan Nguyen Nhu Khue, are leaders of working groups to supervise important projects, such as An Phu intersection project; Hanoi Highway expansion project; project for resettlement for Ring Road 3.
The drastic intervention of HCMC leaders and their recommendations as well as of the central government will soon set a system to protect cadres who dare to think and do work for the benefit of the people. It is after this that HCMC will begin to regain its position once again as the economic hub of the country.
