Speaking at a municipal government meeting on Sep 4 to review socio-economic performance in August and the first eight months of the year, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc said officials should not wait, evade responsibility, or shift blame.
"Matters that are clear must be acted on immediately; those that are unclear must be clarified; delays must be assigned responsibility; and every commitment must result in a concrete outcome," he said.
Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoang, Head of Ho Chi Minh City's Statistics Office, said the municipal economy maintained positive growth momentum during the first eight months of 2026.
However, he cautioned that growth still depended largely on existing drivers, with no sufficiently strong new catalyst emerging to deliver a breakthrough in the final months of the year.
To achieve full-year growth of more than 10 percent, the city would need to expand by 11.7 percent in the second half, including 11.07 percent in the third quarter and 12.3 percent in the fourth.
The city has drawn up a detailed growth plan, assigning specific tasks and measures to agencies and requiring them to closely monitor implementation to ensure that key growth engines are not disrupted.
Accelerating public investment disbursement is among the city's top priorities. Authorities have been instructed to remove bottlenecks related to investment procedures, compensation, financial support, and site clearance, while clarifying responsibilities among investors and project management boards.
The city also aims to shorten administrative processing times and reduce unnecessary intermediary steps.
Vice Chairman Hoang Nguyen Dinh of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said nearly VND80 trillion has been allocated for site clearance this year, accounting for more than 50 percent of the city's total investment capital. He urged departments and local authorities to maintain strong pressure on project implementation and speed up progress.
Mr. Huynh Thanh Nhan, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, meanwhile called for closer coordination between the municipal administration and council committees in preparing measures to implement the Urban Development Law for submission at the council's September session.
Concluding the meeting, Chairman Nguyen Van Duoc of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said the city had sustained positive economic momentum, while the two-tier local government model was operating steadily and several growth drivers were showing encouraging results.
Still, he highlighted several shortcomings, including slow disbursement of private and foreign direct investment, delays in major projects, and persistent challenges facing manufacturing and foreign trade.
The number of businesses leaving the market had also increased, while science, technology, and digital transformation had yet to develop in line with the city's potential.
Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc described completing the regulations needed to implement the Urban Development Law as a "top priority among priorities." He said matters that were already clear should be implemented without hesitation, while unresolved issues could continue to be reviewed and adjusted during implementation.
The city must also accelerate completion of its overall planning framework, resolve long-delayed projects, and advance major infrastructure, transport, housing, and urban redevelopment schemes.
Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc demanded tighter administrative discipline, saying measurable results should be the main benchmark for evaluating officials and agencies. Departments and localities that fail to disburse at least 70 percent of their public investment allocations in the third quarter will not be rated as having excellently completed their duties.
With more businesses withdrawing from the market, partly because of administrative burdens, agencies must continue reviewing and cutting unnecessary procedures to create a more favorable investment environment, he said.
Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc said the push for faster execution must be tied to the city's 150-day high-intensity campaign to deliver its 2026 socio-economic targets, including double-digit growth and budget revenue of VND1 quadrillion, laying the groundwork for stronger momentum in 2027.
