Bac Giang makes efforts to improve provincial competitiveness index

Bac Giang (VNA) - The northern province of Bac Giang is focusing on increasing its ranking in the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) rankings, said Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

In the time to come, Bac Giang province will work to raise awareness and sense of responsibility of officials, Party members, and civil servants on ways to improve the business and investment environment as well as the efficiency of investment attraction, Duong stated. He said that the consistent implementation of the policy of "accompanying enterprises" is critical to increase contact and dialogue with investors and businesses in order to listen to suggestions, promptly resolve complaints and recommendations.

The province will promote innovation to improve its standing in the index. Accordingly, each work unit must undertake at least one initiative to improve and raise component index each year.

At the same time, Bac Giang will improve the selection criteria for investors in the field of industrial development with clear and detailed regulations that ensure transparency to source quality investment projects.

Infrastructure will be given first priority to attract investment, with a focus on completing several key projects, speeding up the implementation of connectivity traffic routes, and expanding new spaces for industrial and service development. Connectivity will be enhanced among major centers like Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, and Quang Ninh provinces, he said.

Bac Giang will pay great attention to improving the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of enterprises, actively supporting investors and businesses in removing obstacles, and strengthening State management over investment projects in the locality, he said.

The province will coordinate with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and centrally-run agencies, and representatives of provinces with high PCI rankings. It will also organise a conference to analyse reasons for the decrease in scores, and identify the responsible units in charge so as to make a plan to upgrade the PCI index in 2022.

The Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee asked local departments, sectors and localities that have many administrative procedures related to businesses to review and shorten the time to handle administrative procedures by at least 30 percent. They were also instructed to publicise the number of dossiers handled every month, and the rate of late payment dossiers on social networking sites such as Zalo and Facebook, and e-portals.

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, in the Vietnam Provincial Competitiveness Index Report 2021, Bac Giang was listed in the group of provinces and cities with good economic management quality. The province reached 64.74 points, 0.76 point higher than that of 2020; and ranking 31st out of 63 provinces and cities, down four places compared to that in 2020.

In 2021, Bac Giang had five out of 10 components increase within the index, including policies supporting enterprises, transparency, land access, legal institutions and security order, and unofficial expenses. However, several components within the index witnessed declines in the provincial administration, including the cost of market entry, fair competitiveness, labour training, time cost, and new initiatives.

Among the index components that reported decreases in Bac Giang, fair competitiveness and time cost had the highest rates of decline. Specifically, the fair competitiveness index decreased by 1.91 points. Thus it ranked 33rd out of 63 provinces and cities, down 28 places compared to 2020. Meanwhile, the time cost index decreased by 1.69 points, ranking 46th out of 63 provinces and cities, down 41 places compared to 2020. The administration's new initiatives decreased by 1.09 points, ranking 61st out of 63 provinces and cities, down 41 places compared to 2020. Labour training fell by 0.49 points, ranking 18th; and the market entry cost declined by 0.23 points, ranking 37th nationwide./.