The Ho Chi Minh City government has urged grassroots authorities to be more active in pursuing administrative reforms, saying people's satisfaction with administrators is not increasing fast enough.

At a December 2 meeting with leaders of the city's 322 wards, 24 districts, and 18 departments and sectors, Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of People's Committee and head of the HCM City Administrative Reform Steering Committee, urged them to speed up reforms.

The reforms are vital for improving the efficiency of the administration and ensuring socio-economic development, he said.

Truong Van Lam, Director of the city's Department of Home Affairs, quoted a survey done by the HCM City Institute for Development Studies as saying that while there is a rise in confidence in administrators, it has been slow.

Quan said the city's economic growth is expected to be 9.5 percent this year, higher than last year's 9.3 percent.

"After the meeting to review the city's economy after 11 months this year, we will see that if we strengthen administrative reforms, the growth rate will be much higher."

Companies have contributed greatly to growth, and customs and tax reforms have helped them reduce the time taken for procedures, he said.

But he blamed some departments and agencies for not performing their tasks of serving the people well and ensuring the city's socio-economic development.

The meeting heard from the Department of Home Affairs, however, that most programmes and targets for administrative reform this year have been completed.

According to the department, the task of assessing legal documents and administrative procedures has been done regularly, helping improve administrative efficiency.

Through this process, the city has scrapped 10 administrative procedures out of 2,182 this year.

According to the department, many sectors have started to make use of information technology to speed up administrative reform.

A single-door policy has been adopted by all wards, districts, departments, and sectors to improve administrative services for both individuals and companies.

The Department of Information and Communication has upgraded the IT infrastructure at government offices in every district.

The electronic system with 13,707 electronic mail boxes is being put into good use at government offices, according to report.

At the meeting, directions on strengthening administrative reform were announced. A seven-page document requires heads of departments, districts, and other offices to monitor their subordinates and be accountable if reforms are tardy.-VNA