Administrators need to be squeaky clean

How have businesses commented on local governments’ transparency?

Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) survey results in the past seven years showed local governments did not get positive assessments from the business community in terms of transparency. It is worrisome when personal relationships still play a remarkable role in accessing information and documents serving firms’ production and business operations.

In 2007, only 56.6 per cent of surveyed firms said having good relations with relevant state agencies was crucial in searching information related to planning work or land issues, this rate jumped to 75 per cent in 2011.

How did foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) view these ‘hidden’ relationships?

A PCI survey of 1,970 FIEs in 2011 showed that the number of firms viewed having good relations with state officials to get needed information slid from 70 per cent in 2010 to just 45 per cent in 2011.
However, even in provinces with good transparency comments from the business community like southern Binh Duong and Long An provinces, up to 30 per cent of surveyed FIEs said having relations with state officials were crucial to get information or support from local governments.

How do you view current transparency levels at local governments?

Transparency is crucial in wooing investors. But, in fact not every locality pays due attention to improving its image in the eyes of investors. Recently, many localities have spent time, efforts and money on holding investment promotion conferences to lure investors.  However, investors often felt discouraged when making efforts to search information for investment decisions.

During 2006-2007, local governments had adopted innovative approaches to support investors but reform efforts were scaled down in some recent years due to state officials’ limited capacity.
One reason was the recent change of key management posts in localities.  

Why did the criteria associated with enterprise support services and labour training did not get a high rating from the business community?

The PCI consists of two groups of issues. The first group consists of market entry expenses and land access which can be easily handled, so localities got good appraisals from businesses.

The second group consists of labour training and support services which could present challenges to local governments since demands from businesses became increasingly diversified. Meanwhile, the provision of public administrative services of state agencies failed to keep up with burgeoning development requirements.