Prime Minister breaks through Ho Chi Minh City stagnancy

During his working visit to Ho Chi Minh City on April 12, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and ministry leaders listened to the first quarter development report of the city authorities and their plans for the second quarter of this year.

The prime minister paid a working visit to Ho Chi Minh City and listened to the list of the city's difficulties hampering its development

Especially, a draft plan on policies and progress to shorten the time for land clearance, compensation, and resettlement for projects which have been repossessed by the authorities for other purposes was also submitted to the leader of the government.

Some special submissions were highlighted by Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong at the meeting, including the proposal for an advance sum of $96.7 million from the government budget to pay the debt for the foreign contractors of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien Metro Line, the request for permission for the city committee to set land price and compensation rates on its own, and the request for permission for the city authorities to pay an advance sum for the clearing and compensation of the third ring road of the city.

In order to ensure the progress of equitisation of state-owned enterprises in the 2018-2020 period, Phong also suggested the prime minister to soon approve the list of enterprises in which the government has kept 100 per cent of the stakes, the equitisation schedule of enterprises in the city, and the capital proportion the government wishes to retain after the first IPO of these enterprises.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested city authorities to improve rapport between the government and local authorities

PM Phuc requested city authorities to clarify the responsibilities of everybody and ensure better co-ordination between the government and local authorities in order to implement its development strategy in the coming time.

He was also happy about the first quarter results of Ho Chi Minh City, as despite international and regional difficulties, the GDP growth of the city remained high compared to the whole country, and highly appreciated the close rapport of the city’s leaders with the business circle. He called on them to use these close relations to identify and solve all bottlenecks as soon as possible and in the best manner.

“Ho Chi Minh City retains its leading position in contributions to the state budget and the second position in attracting foreign investors, and we must keep this up,” he said.

He also suggested city authorities to continue applying high technology and collecting ideas and innovation from overseas Vietnamese people.

Despite having good results in economic development, challenges remain and the city authorities should find ways to resolve them. Even as foreign investment inflows are high, only 8 per cent went into manufacturing andpeople are still not satisfied with administrative improvements, while the local staff and officials are hesitant to resolve issues for the people.