The Ho Chi Minh City municipal People’s Committee has suggested central-level agencies consider exemptions and reductions of corporate and personal income taxes for the investors of private kindergarten projects to help develop pre-schools in the city, the Saigon Times Daily reported.

Speaking at the 13th meeting of the HCM City municipal People’s Council which opened on June 14, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan also called for agencies of higher levels to apply land rent breaks for private kindergartens in districts 2, 9, 8, 12, Binh Tan, Thu Duc and Tan Phu, and a 50% reduction for the kindergartens in Phu My Hung Urban Area in District 7 and other districts.

Huynh Cong Hung, Head of the Social and Culture Department under the council, said that more than 172,000 children were studying at private pre-schools in the city and about 10,000 of them were taught at unlicensed kindergartens.

Hung said that the department had agreed with the People’s Committee on preferential treatments for investors of the projects to encourage the development of private pre-schools here in the city.

He said the city would give priorities to kindergarten developments in industrial zones, export processing zones, and the 11 wards which do not have public pre-schools.

The Social and Culture Department also supported more kindergarten investors to access the loans whose interest rates are covered by the State budget with maturity from seven to 15 years including two years of grace for all approved kindergarten projects depending on their scales.

The HCM City People’s Committee said the city would spend some 7.6 trillion VND (358 million USD) on education and training this year, accounting for 25.74 percent of the total spending and nearly 230 billion VND higher than initial estimation.-VNA